Carpe Diem
by Petronius
Summary: The complete Jonathan Martel story from 1998 now novelized. Willow accidently reanimates an young telekinetic from the 1600's who may hold the secret to restoring a vampire's soul.
1. Part 1, chapters 1 through 5

CARPE DIEM

Chapters 1 - 5

_by  
Gaius Petronius_

Spoilers and Synopsis: Season 2 BtVS

This is the orginal Jonathan Martel story from the Carpe Diem Trilogy first posted to the SFA March 1998 in script format, available for the first time in a new novelization.

It is roughly three months after Jenny Calendar's murder at the hands of a now evil Angelus. Willow accidently reanimates an eighteen year old stranger from the distant past, Jonathan Martel. Condemned in the 1600's due to his astonishing telekinetic powers, Jonathan is rumored to possess the knowledge of restoring a vampire's soul. But when Buffy finds she is attracted to this dashing, but troubled young stranger, she is forced to choose between him and her still strong feelings for Angel. Is this new love truly friend or foe, wizard or charlatan?

Unknown to Buffy, Drusilla, too, has her eyes on Jonathan and will stop at nothing to destroy him and sieze his soul with its incredible powers. Jonathan finally must prove to Buffy that he can retrieve lost souls, . . . but only at a terrible cost.

Rating: PG-13 for some violence, language and a racy scene or two.

DISCLAIMER:  
Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all the characters that appear on the show are the exclusive property of Joss Whedon, the WB, Fox and Mutant Enemy, Inc. I only lay claim to the character of Johannes Martel, but Mutant Enemy can have him anytime they want him. The Ancient One is loosely derived from the Cthulhu Mythos stories of the classic 20th century horror writer, H. P. Lovecraft. The selected lyrics from "It's a Beautiful Life" are copyright by Ace of Base and Arista Records.

A Note On the Text:  
The plot for the original script version of Carpe Diem was drafted in mid season two before Angel's age and the relationship with Dru and Spike were fully developed. The dating in this story and their backgrounds, as a result, are a departure from BtVS canon.

**Chapter 1 - "Everyone Goes To Burton's"**

Burton's London Bookseller's Shoppe was definitely the kind of place Rupert Giles favored. It was dark and cramped with old leather bound volumes stacked and tumbled in disorder everywhere. Any requirement of a customer for tidiness and order had to be left at the little creaking oak plank door with its dangling spring mounted door bell.

Browsing through Burton's was more like launching a search party through the realms of the mystical, the arcane and the just plain bizarre. On this particular afternoon, the owner, Ralphe Burton was busy packing two black notebook size volumes and a curious flat slate-like stone in a shipping box and muttering under his breath at the same time.

Scratching his balding head, he wondered aloud why, at his age, he still took such risks for his old Cambridge fellow student. He hadn't seen Giles since the Council summarily dispatched his younger friend off to "the colonies" over a year ago to watch over a particularly volatile young Slayer in southern California.

Burton had already called long distance once regarding the stone and it's companion volumes but he didn't dare discuss openly over the telephone with Giles too much detail about what he was sending. Not that he was concerned the lines were tapped or anything else so "James Bondish" but he was definitely worried by what he had come across and felt Giles was the proper person to handle it. The sooner the troublesome pair of black calfskin bound notebooks and the ominously carved stone were out of the shop, so much the better.

Burton placed the thin stone, about two feet long by six inches high and inscribed with a Celtic rune, into the box along with the books and stuffed plastic packing peanuts around the contents so they wouldn't shift in shipping. Nervously he looked over his shoulder at the fading late afternoon light and rushed the work. He dropped a sealed envelope in the bed of peanuts along with the notebooks and the stone, then quickly finished taping up the box.

At the same time, the old pull door bell for the shop rang, and a brown uniformed parcel delivery man walked in pushing a dolly and carrying a clipboard.

"Your parcel ready, sir?" he asked all business.

"All done," Burton sighed as he stared at the shipping box and silently prayed he wouldn't see it's contents again any time soon.

"Same place as last time?" the delivery man asked as he checked several lines on his clipboard.

"Sunnydale, California, USA," Burton nodded.

"All set, then," the delivery man announced as he looked up from the clipboard, "Contents just books again?"

"Uh, yes," Burton lied and then was distracted by the advancing dusk in the street outside.

"Right. Sign here, line 11," the delivery man announced as he slid the clipboard out for Burton's signature.

The shop owner quickly signed on the line indicated and let out a deep breath as if relieved that the package was finally leaving his shop. The delivery man loaded the package onto his dolly and rolled it through the front door into the street.

"Careful, it's heavy," Burton called after as both parcel and driver disappeared into the delivery truck and drove off up the narrow roadway where the street lights were finally beginning to come on.

Burton sat down on a small wooden chair, sighed again and became lost in thought. He was afraid, not for himself he now realized, but for the nightmare objects he had just sent off half way around the world. He trembled for what they might be and what they could do if they fell into the wrong hands. Through a wavy paned window in the front of the shop, the last rays of dusk quickly faded to night. In a few moments, the old pull rope door bell rang again. Burton stirred in his chair.

"We're closing in a few minutes . . ." the shop keeper said perfunctorily without looking up, "Can I help you with something?"

There was no reply. Suddenly Burton saw shadows shift across the stacks of leather bound volumes all around him and his eyes filled with terror. He looked up, sat back abruptly in the chair and tried to scream but the shriek froze in his throat, never to emerge. Three dark robed figures moved swiftly and silently towards him.

*****  
**Chapter 2 - A Package for Mr. Giles**

The early morning sun beat down on the buses and students flocking before the front entrance to Sunnydale High. Willow Rosenberg wove her way among the milling crowds searching for a friendly face. It was difficult enough for Willow after freshman year being lumped in with the computer geeks, among the lowest of the low on the Sunnydale High social pecking order. But with the arrival of Buffy Ann Summers sophomore year and the two's rapidly developed friendship, Willow found herself shunned for even more disturbing reasons.

The whole student body now understood that "things" always "happened" when Buffy was around. True, Buffy was a hottie and from LA and for that reason, most of the Sunnydale High male population were willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. Even a few (not counting social reject Xander Harris who was constantly at her side) would have been willing to try to ask her out on a date. However, her recent relationship with a tall, brooding older guy who came around only at night, wasn't in college and definitely not a Sunnydale student, well that finished it for Ms. Summers' social standing. And it didn't help matters any when the relationship appeared to end quite badly several weeks back. There was also her penchant for roaming in cemeteries at night not to mention the severed head that turned up on stage during the talent show and other incidents.

So this morning, Willow imagined she wasn't just dodging fellow students flying by on skateboards or the usual cliques of hostile female faces parroting Cordelia Chase's "Sears Girl" insult just slightly within range of her hearing. Willow knew she was officially a "weirdo," because of her friendship with Buffy. She was one of those Sunnydale High lepers, the Scooby Gang as they called themselves. The students didn't pick on them in order to elevate their own fragile and insecure egos, but rather avoided them outright largely through fear and an instinctive herd-like sense of survival.

Willow shrugged her shoulders to herself in resignation. No one really understood except maybe Xander but then the two of them had grown up together and had a peculiar history that never seemed to move beyond a brother sister relationship. She knew he had always cared. He even used to put salamanders down her shirt as a kid just to make her scream.

But Xander had a big heart and Willow was about the only one who appreciated that. She remembered fondly how, when no one was looking, he used to put the slimy amphibians back under the rocks where they came from so they wouldn't be hurt. He also got his first detention in kindergarten for beating up Jimmy Gulano who teased her about her red hair and made her cry.

But then super loser Xander Harris, against all the laws of the rational universe, somehow got involved with Cordelia Chase, head cheerleader and campus super snot. What brought them together, Willow still couldn't figure out except maybe Cordelia's empty head, or maybe her male magnetic breasts, or maybe Xander's raging hormones or maybe all of the above. Anyway, with those two on the loose, no one dared open a broom closet anywhere in the Sunnydale High building without knocking first. Which is how Willow got left behind until she finally found Oz, her werewolf rock musician.

And here she was this morning, just like so many other mornings, standing on the steps before home room searching not for Xander, Oz or anyone else, but instead scanning the crowds for her friend, Buffy, who in less than a week after her arrival sophomore year, had got the whole "weirdo" ball rolling at Sunnydale. "Go figure," Willow wondered silently at her choice of friends and grinned ever so slightly.

As she climbed the stairs towards the front door, Willow finally spotted Buffy sitting at the side of the steps, sunning her face in the few minutes before classes. Willow quickly sidled in at her side. Buffy's eyes were closed as she leaned back and let the skin of her face drink in the melanoma enriched UV rays.

"Hey, Buffy," Willow smiled putting on her best early morning perky.

"Hey," Buffy muttered back absentmindedly.

Willow paused. Ever since Buffy and Angel had finally done "it" and Angel had lost his soul leaving behind the evil Angelus, Willow knew instinctively to tread lightly when beginning a conversation.

"You know, the sun like that isn't good for your skin."

"I don't care," Buffy announced, her voice laced with a haunting emptiness that Willow could tell came from a great damaged place near her friend's heart.

"It feels good," Buffy continued without opening her eyes, "I'm so sick of the darkness."

She didn't really want to, but Willow knew she finally had to broach "the topic." Buffy had been like this for two weeks now and Willow could sense her friend's bouts of outward depression were starting to settle in as permanent fixtures in her character.

"I guess hunting didn't go so hot last night," she asked gingerly.

"Nah, nothing," Buffy announced sarcastically as she sat up and opened her eyes to the blazing sun and rush of students all around her, "But that's the way it should be, right? It's my job. After all, what else am I here for except to keep everything safe on the Hellmouth."

Trying desperately to maintain the "cool" front, Buffy stared at her friend and tossed her long blonde hair. At the same time, Willow could see the effort crumbling before her eyes.

"You gotta stop thinking about him," she answered gently. "Angel's gone. It's only gonna hurt more. That's what Angelus is trying to do, hurt you."

"No offense," Buffy answered coldly, looking away, "But can you stop thinking about Oz?"

Well, no. . . " Willow withered, "I'm sorry, . . . I'll go crawl in my hole now."

"No, don't go," Buffy said quickly, immediately regretting her harsh words. She caught Willow by the arm as she went to rise and held her back on the steps, "I know I must be a real ton of fun to be with."

"That's okay," Willow beamed, drinking in her friends acceptance, "You know we're all here for you, Buffy. Me, Giles, Xander, Oz . . .well, when he isn't tied up."

Buffy smiled at the joke. True, it wasn't one of Xander's zingers, all cutting, funny and at the same time, self defensive but rather like Willow herself, gentle and from the heart.

"Even Cordelia when she's not being a total . . .uh," Willow floundered for the right word, "What do you call a beautiful slutty cheerleader that steals your boyfriend?"

"A beautiful slutty cheerleader that steals your boyfriend," Buffy answered with a big grin.

"Oh yeah, right," Willow nodded in agreement at the obvious, "Well you know what I mean. We all hate to see you so bummed. You can lean on us a little if you need to. Shoulder's always here." Willow patted her shoulder as she spoke.

"Thanks, Will" Buffy said sincerely, ". . . just don't give up on me."

"Never," Willow smiled her trademark grin.

In a moment more, both joined the surging mass of adolescent humanity pouring into the building for another day of state mandated learning on the Sunnydale Hellmouth.

First period natural science was the usual boring lecture. Mr. Tarbox, the science teacher struggled to raise the class enthusiasm regarding the fundamentals of astronomy and the universe by using an annoying imitation of Carl Sagan. The fact that he was originally from the Bronx with a lingering accent didn't help foment the impression of awe and wonder he struggled so hard to impart in the students.

"And with the universe stretching beyond our ability to count, thousands of galaxies are filled with millions and billions of stars."

Buffy was barely able to pay attention, her thoughts as far away as the stars Mr. Tarbox attempted to describe.

"Each star, a blazing celestial furnace generating one million degrees Celsius," the teacher proclaimed waving his arms in the air as if he were trying to stop a runaway bus that had hopped the sidewalk directly in front of him.

"And yet in these nuclear fusion furnaces, for every two hydrogen atoms fused together the result is always, one helium atom and energy. No matter is actually destroyed, only converted to matter in a different form and energy."

Mercifully the class bell rang. All the students slapped their books shut and rushed in an irresistible wave for the door.

In the hallway, Xander caught up with Buffy as both walked swiftly down the stairs to classes on the first floor.

"Yo, Buffy, what's up? You're kinda like not here today," he called out, trying to get her attention

"Shows that bad, huh," she answered over her shoulder.

"I'd do a scale of one to ten but I flunked negative numbers in Algebra ," Xander said finally reaching her side as they stopped momentarily together in the first floor student lounge area at the foot of the stairs.

"Thanks for the show of support," Buffy snipped.

"I guess last night was a bust, huh. No Angel?" Xander continued, trying to ignore the Slayer's clear signals to leave her alone.

"First question, Yes," Buffy announced firmly, turning to face Xander head on, "Second question, really none of your business."

Buffy turned her back on Xander and stalked away to the Library. From out of the crowd, Cordelia Chase suddenly loomed up beside Xander as Buffy turned the hallway corner.

"So how is your precious Buffy?" she said, her voice dripping knives, "Still giving you the royal brush off?"

"Cordelia," Xander explained trying to be patient and at the same time not sarcastic, "There's healing time that has to take place here."

"You're going to need some healing time after I'm finished with you if you don't start paying attention to me!" the head cheerleader snarled as the claws started to come out.

Xander ignored her. Instead he stared down the crowded hall to see where Buffy went.

"Xander! What the hell have we been doing the last 3 months!?" Cordelia almost screamed.

"I don't know. What? . . ." he answered distracted as if her question were a particularly silly and annoying part of a history exam, "Making out . . . whatever you want."

Cordelia stamped her foot in fury, swatted Xander across the top of the head and stormed away.

"Ow! . . . Right . . .I'll catch up with you in history . . . Cordy? . . . . Cordy?

Xander looked around, but Cordelia was gone.

Down the hall in the school library, librarian Rupert Giles fought back valiantly against a mound of plastic packing peanuts that spilled across the check out counter. Excited by the thought of a package from his old Cambridge friend, Burton, Giles had abandoned his normally meticulous approach to unwrapping and simply torn the top off the heavy cardboard parcel. That action, plus the static electricity built up on his wool tweed jacket, sent peanuts flying everywhere.

Giles desperately tried to sweep up the mess with his hands but the static charges, first attracting, now repelling, had the little plastic particles sliding and sticking at random across the checkout desk and off onto the floor. Several ended up his sleeves and one or two stuck in his hair.

Willow looked up from her computer terminal set up on end of the study table across the main floor of the library. Her eyes howled with laughter but she knew she didn't dare grin for fear of a verbal lashing in the King's English from the frustrated librarian.

"Bloody Hell!" and Giles swatted at thin air.

Willow gasped in spite of herself.

Buffy burst in through the double library swinging doors and stopped, staring at her Watcher, a light fluffy piece of peanut plastic protruding from his curly thinning hair.

"Don't say anything!" he announced with the firmness of the Rock of Gibralter. Buffy wanted to, oh how she wanted to but the right words just wouldn't come. She immediately regretted blowing off Xander a few minutes earlier.

"Buffy Summers punching in on the time clock," she said, trying not to burst out laughing.

"Good morning, Buffy," Giles deadpanned her as he picked the plastic peanut out of his hair.

Buffy hopped up on the desk and stared into the open package.

"Whatcha got? New toys or just the usual end of the world prophecies?"

"Not sure actually," Giles continued, "This just came from Burton, my rare book dealer in London. Don't know what to make of it. He called early last week and said I should let him know when it arrived."

Giles picked up the phone and started dialing. He listened as the phone rang with no answer.

Thousands of miles away in Burton's London Booksellers Shoppe, the front display room was dark. Amidst the shadows, it was clear the shop had been ransacked with shelves torn down and tables overturned. Behind a smashed display case a bloodied arm protruded into clear view. Amidst the ruins the phone rang over and over.

Giles finally hung up and rubbed his chin in puzzlement. "Hmm," he mused, "Must have left early."

Buffy couldn't resist any longer and began poking around in the box like it was Christmas morning.

"So what is this stuff?"Any new threat to the world I should know about?"

Suddenly she stopped and lifted out the flat slate like stone. She turned it around carefully studying it from different angles, especially the celtic rune prominently carved into the face.

"This thing is _creepy_," the Slayer scowled, "What is it?"

"Not sure. Burton didn't say, only to call him and he'd explain."

"Save the long distance charges, Giles" Buffy said shaking her head, "I can tell you now, this _is not a good thing."_

Buffy slid the stone back down into the bed of peanuts in the package and drew out one of the two large black books. She eyed the soft leather cover, the spine and read outloud the single name stamped in gold.

"Martel."

Buffy opened the cover and scowled again. The pages were empty.

"Uh, Giles, I hope you didn't pay cash for this," she said half sarcastically, "The pages are all blank."

"I know," Giles answered calmly as he pulled the second volume out and studied the parchment, testing its thickness and strength between his fingers.

"Now I get your love for smelly old books in dumb dead languages nobody but you can read," Buffy went on as she turned more pages, "But what good is one without any writing in it?"

"There could be a lot of explanations, invisible ink, a spell to conceal the text."

"How about the simplest one, there's nothing there," Buffy immediately regretted being snippy but it was really obvious.

"Burton thinks these are the notebooks of a Johannes Martel, a seventeenth century European philosopher," Giles continued, ignoring her Sunnydale flippancy.

"And this is interesting because . . .?"

Giles immediately slipped into his teaching mode. It was crucial that his Slayer understand the importance of what had just been dumped into their laps by pure chance.

"Buffy, in the 1600's the designation 'philosopher' could mean an alchemist or even a wizard. I have Willow looking on the Internet for more information. My references only mention him in passing. Apparently the contemporary authorities were concerned enough about his activities to have him condemned and his library destroyed but not before some of its more important contents were looted. No one knows what happened to Martel himself. Vanished without a trace.

"And these two empty black books are some of that loot?" Buffy asked, her interest rising just a shade.

"Quite possibly. The stone as well," Giles confirmed.

"Still doesn't do anything for me," Buffy said, her attention quickly drifting away. She dropped the leather volume back in the packing box with its companion stone, "Why should we care about an old bearded wizard?"

"That's what's strange," Giles answered, looking up from his copy and staring across the library at nothing in particular as often did when confronted by a mystery, "Martel was very young, only 18 when he disappeared."

"So he got a scholarship and graduated from Wiz Tech his junior year," Buffy smirked.

"It's the charges against him. Martel was accused not only of consorting with vampires, but of attempting to restore them to human form rather than killing them," Giles said as he stared directly at Buffy.

The Slayer's eyes popped open as the meaning of her Watcher's words sank in.

"You're kidding," she said softly.

"Not at all. That's why I have Willow looking on the Internet."

Buffy immediately jumped from her perch on the desk, made a bee line for Willow on the other side of the library and peered over her shoulder at the computer screen."

"Whatcha got, Will?" Buffy asked trying not to sound too anxious.

"Giles, listen to this!" Willow called out as a new screen rolled into view, "The Wizard Martel was known to move large objects from great distances without any physical aid. He could throw invisible walls of force and bend beams of sunlight with the wave of his hand.'"

"A telekinetic," Giles mused.

"A telly what?" Buffy asked, now barely able to contain herself.

"Someone who can control matter and energy through, as yet, unexplained mental powers," Giles expounded, "History records many of them. Even today there are people who can move pencils on a table with the wave of a hand."

"Bending sunlight, huh? Doesn't sound like this guy spent his time spinning crayons for lunch money," Buffy said to Willow, "I wouldn't want to have him mad at me."

"Probably not a cool idea," Willow agreed.

"Anything else about the vampires angle?" Buffy verbally nudged Willow for more info as she struggled to read the tiny print as her friend scrolled down the screen.

"No, just that he was accused of consorting with them and . . ."

Willow stopped reading, puzzled by the contents of the text.

"And ? What, Will? What?" Buffy almost shouted.

Willow looked around and stared back up at her friend. She was both excited and terrified of what she was about to tell Buffy.

"It says here," Willow hesitated, " '. . . and trying to restore their souls.'"

Buffy's eyes widened with astonishment. For the first time since her encounter with the Master, her legs felt weak and she trembled a little as she dropped down into a folding chair.

" . . . Angel . . . " she said softly.

* * * * * * * * * *

**Chapter 3 - An Unexpected Visitor**

Nothing could compare to the elegance of the dinner arrangements assembled in the abandoned warehouse lair of Spike, Drusilla and Angelus. True, the massive mahogany banquet table rescued from the Sunnydale landfill had more than a few nicks and dings. The base of one of the lion's foot legs was pretty well destroyed, allowing the table to teeter precariously. When Drusilla accidentally spilled a full goblet of child's blood ("nouveau" Spike liked to call it) in her lap as the table shifted, that was the last straw. Spike forced Angelus to scrounge up some shims (he chose several leftover severed fingers from a recent victim) to stabilize the ornate table and that immediately solved the problem.

Dru was happy, cooing over the semi-erotic carvings around the table trim, Spike was happy because Dru was happy and Angelus, well, Angelus still grumbled and muttered oaths regarding the Slayer. But then, Angelus always grumbled now much to the annoyance of Spike.

The two had been at loggerheads for the last several weeks since Angel had lost his soul. Both vampires were vying for Drusilla's affections but Angelus was handicapped by his constant infatuation with Buffy. True, he wanted to pull the Slayer's arms out and hang them as trophies in the north wall of the warehouse, but Drusilla didn't appreciate Angelus' divided attentions. Why couldn't Angelus torture _her_ instead of constantly mooning over the Slayer.

Her love, Spike, despite his confinement to a wheelchair since their last disasterous encounter with the Slayer, still managed to oblige with exquisitely and lovingly prepared torments and other entertainments, but Drusilla was fascinated with her "Daddy" and Spike knew it and deeply resented Angelus.

As the sun went down, the three sat around their banquet table sampling glasses of what appeared to be red wine but was much too thick and clinging to the glass to be of any French or California vintage. Drusilla had carefully placed pure white napkins, each with a single blood spot in the center, around at each place setting. Two extra chairs held large dolls from Drusilla's collection, their necks twisted at odd, indeed contorted positions. In the shadows at the far end of the chamber a body hung unceremoniously upside down from the rafters.

"Smooth on the palate, complex bouquet," Spike announced with pleasure to Drusilla as he swirled the cloying red liquid around his glass, "Much better than last night's. None of that raw foxy flavor that's so offensive."

"No cheap New York Staties for my darlings," Drusilla crooned as she leaned over and nibbled on Spike's ear.

"What is it with you two, always playing with your food," Angelus grumbled as he belted down a slug from his glass. Spike shook his head in disgust at such uncouth behavior.

"Angelus, where's the enjoyment if you just gulp it down without taking the time to savor it?"  
  
"There's a lot to be said for quantity," Angelus smirked back, "I could drink you under the table any night of the week!"

"Do I hear a challenge?" Spike answered calmly but fully ready to rise to the occasion.

Drusilla sat forward in her chair, gracefully raising her arms up between the two vampires keeping them separate.

"Now, now, now love boys, we have work to do tonight, and I need you both clear headed," she said to them both.

"The shipment came in?" Angelus asked, his interest now piqued.

"Yes. Pity our sisters missed it in London, but no matter," Drusilla answered as she gazed off at the carcass hanging in the shadows.

"Saved us on some bloody serious postage it did," Spike eyed Drusilla as he spoke, "We'll go break into the school library and pick it up after midnight if you like, love."

"I'm bored, let's go now," Angelus complained. Spike sensed another challenge. "Besides, I haven't seen Buffy in a while."

"Why don't you just give it up, Angelus," Spike said rolling his eyes to the ceiling, "That slayer's got you so whipped."

"What? . . ." Angelus smirked, "Just 'cause we broke up doesn't mean we can't still be friends!"

Drusilla laughed and started cooing again, closing her eyes and lolling her head back and forth. Spike waited patiently for his love to come back from wherever she went when her mind drifted like this.

"Let's go get my Wizard's things right now!" she hissed as her eyes opened, "Kill nasty slayer and stab little people that keep what is ours."

"That's my girl," Angelus answered as he feigned a smile of innocence.

"Whatever you want, love," Spike replied as he glowered at Angelus.

* * * * * * * *  
Evening research in the library was usually a quiet affair, something that normally left Buffy cold. The other Scoobies, especially Willow, were better at digging through Giles' voluminous piles of books and manuscripts. Even Xander and Cordelia could handle the work for maybe up to an hour if the books contained enough pictures.

But tonight was different. Buffy tore through page after page, her eyes rapidly scanning the texts in front of her. She didn't quite understand what she was looking at but she reassured herself that she didn't need to. All she had to do was find some reference to the mysterious "Johannes Martel." She could then turn her discovery over to Giles and he'd be able to interpret what she had found.

She just had to find something . . . anything. She became more frustrated with every passing minute as each book she searched failed to reveal any more secrets regarding the eighteen year old from the early 1600's who may have held the secret to finding and restoring lost souls. Every few minutes she looked up from her place at one of the study tables and glanced over the top of her pile of books to see if her friends were having any more success then she.

Giles, Xander and Cordelia were all studying in different parts of the library, each rooting through the Watcher's more arcane volumes. Willow, still sitting in front of her computer, had given up on any further internet searches. She kept getting hits but all referenced back to the same cryptic paragraphs from Landscheiding's "Historia Imperium Sacrum Romanorum" she had discovered that morning. She had yet to come up with anything new since then.

Now Willow leaned back in her work station chair and aimlessly flipped the empty pages of one of the black Martel volumes. She had expected the parchment to be rough and brittle but the pages were soft and supple to the touch and they turned almost soundlessly in her hands.

As she ran her palms back and forth over the smooth surface, she imagined there was something more here than just an empty book. She was able to do this more and more lately, taking ordinary items and perceiving flashes of things beyond the realm of the regular five senses. She sensed it now as well, a presence, something waiting, quietly, patiently as if it were asleep.

"I'm bagging it!" Xander exclaimed as he slammed his book shut.

"Boring! There's nothing here, Buff," he called out across the library floor, "I know teenagers need sleep, but I sleep in bed . . . or in class. Who's up for the Bronze?"

"Let's look just a little more, Xander," Buffy said softly as she looked up from her own volume. She could sense the commitment of the others rapidly fading away.

"We've been at it since this morning!" Xander complained.

"Please!" Buffy pleaded and again she wished she hadn't been so rough on Xander earlier in the day, "This is our first real lead on helping Angel. There's gotta be something here somewhere."

Xander rose, pushed his chair aside and walked over to Buffy. He stared down at her. For a second their eyes met head on.

"Buffy, what if there isn't?" he asked firmly and sincerely, "What if this is it?"

"I'm not quitting!" Buffy exclaimed, discouraged that the others were about to bail on her. "Giles you've gotta have some other stuff here."

"I'm sorry Buffy, but Xander may be right," Giles said as gently as possible as he removed his glasses, "Sometimes, so few manuscripts have survived, you just reach a dead end."

At her computer table, Willow's attention was riveted to the Martel notebook in her arms. She ran her hands back and forth over the open empty pages, drawing almost a telepathic sensation from each page. At the same time, Cordelia walked down out of the book stacks and stood leaning over her shoulder.

"What are you doing?" the head cheerleader asked, half in a question and half as sarcastic criticism.

"I don't know. . . " Willow answered quietly, her voice trembling, "They feel so funny . . . warm, the paper feels warm."

"Willow, you're not going moon bozo on us, too, "Xander called out from Buffy's side, "It's bad enough tying up Oz every . . ."

"Xander!" Buffy snapped in defense of her friend.

"NO! Buffy! Giles! It's the book!" Willow exclaimed, her hand now visibly shaking as it held one of the pages. "There's something here!"

Giles looked up and opened his mouth to speak but before Willow could explain, the doors to the library burst violently open. A vampire raiding party, lead by Drusilla, Spike, and Angelus swept into the center of the room.

Moving with a clear purpose, each vampire singled out one of the Scooby Gang. Angelus immediately positioned himself between Buffy and the others to distract the Slayer and give the other vampires a freer reign. Drusilla leaped over the check out counter, belted Giles in the face and grabbed the Martel notebook as it lay loose and unprotected. Spike slid the flat rune stone off the table, dropped it in his lap, then wheeled back towards the library door.

As Angelus confronted Buffy, he taunted her, at the same time keeping her from helping the others or protecting the Martel artifacts.

"See, we can still get together on social occasions!" he snarled gleefully as he aimed a punch directly for her chest. Buffy quickly parried and kicked swiftly at the vampire's face in return. Angelus' reaction was not quite fast enough and the hard sole of her boot grazed the side of his cheek, breaking the skin.

Unfazed, Angelus pressed his attack as both traded blows, neither able to penetrate the other's defenses. Cordelia screamed and fled behind the book stacks. Xander leaped over towards the check out counter to help Giles but was intercepted by a vampire who grabbed him by the neck and threw him violently against the wall.

Willow immediately slammed the second Martel volume shut and held it close to her chest. Two vampires, coming in opposite directions, targeted her. She scrambled away from her computer monitor, seeking any kind of protection out of their reach.

Racing up the stairs for the book stacks, Willow stumbled on the last step and plunged headlong into one of the bookshelves. It momentarily swayed from the impact and then toppled down, pinning her under its heavy frame and the weight of the books. Without hesitation, the vampires leaped on top of the mound, clawing away at the books to get at her and the Martel volume she still clutched.

"HELP! HELP! BUFFY!" she screamed.

"WILLOW!" Buffy cried out as she struggled to get around Angelus. The vampire charged her again and again, keeping Buffy from coming to her friend's aid. Xander lay dazed and immobile on the floor where he had landed. Cordelia cowered at the far end of the book stacks. Giles, fumbling for either a cross or vial of holy water in his vest pocket, was otherwise preoccupied, menaced by Drusilla and another vampire.

"HELP! Somebody, HELP!" Willow tried to thrash as the claw like fingers of the vampires came closer and closer. She imagined she could smell their cold foul breath settling all around her. She screamed again one final time as if her soul were reaching out in despair across the dimensions of time and space.

Just as it seemed her last reserves of strength were failing, the Martel notebook in her arms suddenly emitted a faint yellow light that glowed all around her. The two vampires attacking Willow instantly jumped back and slithered away. Drusilla, Spike and Angelus stopped and stared at each other puzzled.

"What the hell's wrong with you losers, you got garlic in your jocks?" Spike yelled at the cowering lackey vampires, "Get the other book!"

His threatening command had no effect. Suddenly a virtual curtain of silence descended on the room with the exception of Willow's now fading cries of "HELP." Everyone, vampires, Buffy and the others all glanced wildly around at each other. Something was coming. Now they all could sense it but no one knew what. The faintest wisp of air blew through the library and lightly flapped the pages of several open books. The breeze softly pushed a loose lock of Buffy's hair into her face.

"Spike, dear, I see an uninvited guest," Drusilla said coldly, her saucer eyes bulging even larger that usual as they snapped back and forth, "We have what we came for. Not nice we should overstay our welcome."

"No problem. Etiquette is your thing, love," he agreed.

With the rune stone and one of the Martel books firmly in hand, both backed up towards the library door. Quickly, the other vampires scurried out ahead of them. Angelus, never once letting down his guard, cautiously stepped away from Buffy towards the library exit.

"This was fun," he grinned showing his teeth, "We'll have to do it again real soon."

Buffy glowered at Angelus. As quickly as it began, the assault was over. Angelus and Drusilla, wheeling Spike, fled the library in a rush before Buffy could even consider pursuit. For a moment, she stood motionless in a state of shock. Xander picked himself up off the floor and tried to regain his wind which had been knocked out him by the force of striking the wall. Giles dropped into a chair and pulled out his handkerchief to staunch the trickle of blood running down his face from where Drusilla hit him above the eye. Willow whimpered quietly from under the fallen bookshelf.

"Willow! Are you all right?" Buffy called out.

Suddenly, a loud metallic crash followed by a dull thump erupted from the darkness in the hallway as if something heavy had fallen out of the ceiling, landed on top of the lockers and then rolled off onto the linoleum floor. That was followed by a loud yell.

"OW! SACRE MERDE!"

"What's that?" Cordelia suddenly cried from her hiding place in the stacks.

More cursing rang out, none of which Buffy or the others could understand except for Giles whose eyebrows went up in both surprise and embarrassment at the level of crudity.

That was followed by what sounded like somebody standing up and brushing themselves off. Then a sound of sharp, distinct footfalls, of crisp leather on the polished linoleum drawing nearer and nearer, echoed up the hallway outside the library.

"They're coming back!" Cordelia screamed.

Buffy whirled towards the library door, prepared to do battle with whomever was about to appear.

The doors flew open and a tall figure, shrouded in shadow, strode in purposefully. He was young, clean shaven with dark wavy hair and brown eyes that almost glowed in the subdued light of the library. His clothing was nothing any of the Scoobies had ever seen. He wore calf high boots, breeches, a white shirt and a long open coat. However, if it weren't for that, he could easily have been mistaken for any senior wandering the halls of Sunnydale High.

Fearing they were under assault from a new, more dangerous unknown enemy, Buffy swiftly struck out, throwing a sudden and rapid punch at the young stranger. His reflexes instantly kicked in as he caught her by the wrist before the blow could land. His single handed grip didn't twist or injure her, but only held her wrist firmly, restraining the force of the blow with a power Buffy had never encountered. Their eyes meet. Astonished, Buffy pulled out of his grasp. The stranger stared at her in wonder, as well.

"You . . .you're a Slayer!" he said in a voice without any accent but with a stilted formality similar to Giles but much younger and not quite as pronounced.

Buffy fearfully backed away. The young man's gaze swept around the room, his eyes falling on Giles.

"And a Watcher!" he exclaimed with more wonder.

Completely stunned, no one answered.

"Who called for help?" he shouted at them as if there were only seconds to spare.

"Me!" Willow whimpered from under the bookshelf, "Get me outta here!"

"Oh, shit, Will!" Xander exclaimed as he lurched up the stairs to the collapsed shelving.

Buffy just stared at the stranger as he quickly ran past her to join Xander at the pile of books.

"Let me help," the unexpected visitor said quickly as both bent down over the wreckage.

"Thanks," Xander answered as they tore into the pile, hurling books aside. Xander put his shoulder up against a bent piece of metal and pushed with his legs lifting the twisted shelving up and off of Willow.

Still fiercely clutching the Martel book, Willow sat up. The tall peculiarly dressed teenager knelt down beside her.

"Lady, are you hurt?"

"I don't know," Willow whimpered. "Let me see . . . " Slowly she tried to move, winced in pain and almost curled up in Xander's arms. "YOW! My shoulder!" she cried as the tears ran down her cheeks. Xander, his eyes begging for something to stop his friend's pain as the panic grew on his face, looked up at the stranger.

"May I please?" the tall youth asked gently as he reached out to Willow.

Xander released Willow from his arms as the stranger took her injured shoulder and encompassed the tender spot with both hands. There was an almost unnoticed flash of the same yellow light as appeared earlier from the black notebook but now flowing from his palms and fingers. In that brief second, only Willow saw it.

"There, now try," he offered, releasing his hold.

"Oh, that's so much better," Willow sighed in relief as she shifted her shoulder and wiped the tears off her face with her sleeve.

It was then that she stared up into the young stranger's face and her eyes widened. In that moment, she couldn't tell how but she knew who he was.

"Oh . . . ," she said softly and trembled a little in fear, "It's you."

Almost apologetically, Willow handed the black calfskin book up to him.

"I think this is yours," she said as she put it in his hands. The stranger paused, examining the volume carefully as if it were something that was extremely valuable and had been lost for a very long time.

"You've protected it well," he smiled nodding and passed it back to Willow, "I leave it in your care. Your name, lady?"

"Who me?" Willow answered astonished, "Oh, okay, uh, Willow . . . yeah."

"Ah. . .Willow," he said nodding again, "Are you ready to stand Lady Willow?"

"It's just 'Willow,'" she corrected him and then wondered if she had made a mistake.

"Just 'Willow,' then," he said with a broad grin. "Can you help me here?" he asked turning to Xander.

"Sure," Xander answered jumping to his feet as both put their arms under Willow. In an instant she was up and standing, although Xander and the stranger had to support her for a moment since she was still a little woozy.

"And now, will you introduce me to your friends?" the stranger asked her with an odd formality that made Willow wonder what Giles would have sounded like at that age.

"Oh, yes, of course. How completely rude of me. This is Cordelia," Willow pointed out as Cordelia slowly crept out into the open from the stacks.

"How do you do, Lady Cordelia," the stranger answered, bowing slightly towards Sunnydale's head cheerleader who instantly ate up the attention.

"At last somebody around here's got it right!" she snapped across the library at Xander.

"And this is Xander," Willow continued, trying to remain friendly and ignore Cordelia at the same time.

"Iskander," the stranger nodded in appreciation as he turned to Xander, "An ancient noble name. You're a soldier?"

"Well, I don't like to brag," Xander said, a little humbled and at a loss for a witty crack, "And it's 'Xander,'" was all he could finally spit out.

"And this is Giles," Willow continued making the rounds, "And this is Buffy. She's a Slayer."

Instantly, Buffy glared at Willow.

"Oops . . ." Willow cringed, "And I think I talk too much."

"And to whom do I have the pleasure?" Giles asked with the strictest formality, at the same time studying from head to foot the teenager dressed in the oddly ancient clothing.

"I . . ." the unnamed stranger glanced around the room at all the Scoobies staring at him. Buffy immediately sensed in him that familiar excrutiating insecurity that every one of them knew so well when they first set foot in Sunnydale High as a new student. Buffy shook her head in quiet amazement. She could have sworn from the look on his face that he thought everyone was either going to laugh at him or tease him about something.

"I, . . . I am Johannes Martel," he said hesitantly.

* * * * * * * * * * *

**Chapter 4 - "Poof"**

The entire Scooby gang stared open mouthed at the oddly dressed teenager standing in their midst in the library.

"Martel?" Buffy finally stammered, "_The_ Johannes Martel? The wizard?"

"No!" the stranger quickly exclaimed and then struggled to explain, "I mean . . . my name is Johannes. But I'm not a wizard! That's what my enemies at the imperial court accused me of."

"Then what are you?" Buffy asked fearfully. At the same time, she found herself fascinated by the mystery surrounding the stranger who couldn't have been a year older than she.

"Telemon always says I'm just me but that I have a 'gift,'" Johannes answered.

"Who's Telemon?" Buffy asked unable to control her mounting fascination.

"My Magister," he said looking at her as if it were the most obvious answer, "Everyone at court knows Telemon."

Buffy, and the others stared back and forth at each other, bewildered by the strange word.

"Magister is medieval latin for 'Teacher,'" Giles quickly explained.

"Yes," Johannes quickly agreed, "He's been helping me understand and control 'the gift.' It takes a lot of work and it's really hard. I've been with him as long as I can remember. He's all the family I have. I don't recall my real mother and father."

"So your Magister is sort of like a Watcher," Willow asked gently.

"Kind of," Johannes said turning to Buffy, "Yes, I guess he would be," he continued as if Buffy had asked the question. "Except Slayers are trained to control and use their physical strength. Telemon has been training me to control this thing in my head."

For a few moments, no one spoke. Bewildered, Johannes stared around at the library and the totally unfamiliar surroundings.

"Where am I?" he finally asked, and for the first time there was fear in his voice, "What is this place where vampires wander at will, attacking even a Slayer?"

"Welcome to America, land of the free," Buffy smiled ironically but suddenly realized her modern witty answer hadn't said anything that would help dispell his fears. She wanted to apologize, say anything that would put him at ease but, as so often was the case lately, her command of words was nowhere near her skills with a stake.

Her Watcher plunged in to the rescue. For a fraction of a second Giles contemplated concealing the details of the situation for fear of the impact it would have on the young stranger but he quickly discarded the idea. The truth would be hard enough for Johannes to handle but Giles knew there was no other way.

"This will be difficult to understand," he began slowly as he walked around from behind the check out desk. "You are in the New World on the side of the continent facing the Pacific Ocean. The place is called California, Sunnydale to be precise."

The impact was exactly what he expected.

"This . . . is the New World?" Johannes stammered. ". . . How long has it been?"

"If you are who you say you are," Giles answered as clinically as possible, "It is almost 400 years from the time you knew."

Buffy felt her heart tear a little as she gazed at the effect Giles' statement had. Johannes stepped back unsteadily. In her imagination his movement was as if her punch of just a few minutes ago had somehow finally gotten through his defenses and staggered him.

Now pale, Johannes sat down on a nearby study chair.

". . . that long? " he murmered," . . .then they're all gone . . .Telemon, dear Phoebe, all my friends, . . . all dead," He quickly turned up to Buffy who wanted to but couldn't pull her eyes away. "I never dreamed it would be so long," he said to her as if the explanation now had no meaning."

"How did you do this?" Buffy asked as she knelt down beside him and to her own surprise, put her arm gently on his shoulder, "Why are you here?"

"I don't know," Johannes shook his head as he returned her gaze, "The Imperial Chancelor threatened me with execution because of my studies on souls. I tried to explain that what I was doing was only to help the crown princess. But he was part of the plot against me. He incited a mob that stormed my study. I had to protect my notebooks." He glanced over at Willow who still clutched the black calfskin volume. "They contain the results of all my work but most of them would be extremely dangerous in the wrong hands so I cast a concealing spell about them . . . and myself."

"Hence the lack of any text," Giles nodded in acknowledgement, "And that spell tied you to the books unchanged until now."

"It was the cry for help," Johannes agreed as he cast a glance over his shoulder at Willow again, "I included it for safety. All my spells drop when there is great need."

"Well, Willow, super taste in men," Xander cracked feebly since he, along with Cordelia, was feeling a little left out of the procedings, "First a werewolf, now a wizard!"

"I'm not a wizard!" Johannes exclaimed.

"Xander!" Willow snarled.

"It's all right," Buffy said to Johannes soothingly, "We understand."

"Tell me, uh, Buffy," Johannes suddenly asked, his eyes locking on hers, "Why are you here?"

"Run that one by me again?" Buffy said completely caught off guard.

"You asked me why I was here," he continued, "Perhaps I could answer better if I knew why there was such great need for a Slayer."

"Well duh!" Cordelia piped up from her vantage point near the stacks, "If you haven't noticed from the pasty looking party crashers we get, this place is sitting on top of a Hellmouth. Giles, I thought you said this guy was smart."

"Is this true?" Johannes turned to Buffy for confirmation.

Buffy only nodded and then spoke to him as if he were someone in one of her dreams. "You really are Martel."

He looked at her, not understanding her meaning.

"The books about you say you can restore a vampire's soul," Buffy said quietly, fearful for what his response might be. "Can you?"

"Accusations like that nearly cost me my life," he answered, dodging her question, "Why would they interest a Slayer?"

"She has a vampire boyfriend," Xander sang out, deliberately leaving nothing to the imagination, "We're pretty cute here in the New World. We dig the fangs and wolves trip."

Suddenly, Xander looked around finding Willow nearly face to face with him, her clenched fist hovering close between his eyes.

"Xander, if you don't shut up I'm gonna bust your nose!"

"A Slayer and a vampire?" Johannes asked Buffy, now beginning to understand her keen interest in him.

"It's a long story," Buffy said apologetically and then spoke almost as if she were the only one in the room, "The only thing left to do is kill him."

"I think I understand," Johannes said softly. Buffy turned to him in surprise, "I lost someone I loved that way."

"Who was she?" Buffy asked quietly and as gently as possible, again astonished that she feared what he might reveal.

Johannes spoke to her slowly with a distant sadness.

"The crown princess . . . my fiance. Her fathers' enemies plotted to destroy the union before our marriage could unite the Holy Roman Empire. They secretly brought in a vampire from Ireland. After she was harvested, I thought I could bring her back. I tried several times . . . Doesn't seem to matter now . . ." he trailed off.

"I'm sorry, . . . I'm sorry," Buffy stammered at a total loss for words, "I didn't realize . . ."

"No, that's all right . . ." he interrupted her.

Johannes stood up and walked around the room, looking up towards the upper windows and ceiling as if he were seeing beyond the walls into the farther reaches of time and space.

"I am here for some other reason," he spoke his thoughts out loud, "That spell was meant to last only a few hours. Instead it is almost four hundred years. There is a greater hand in this than we know."

He suddenly turned to face all the Scoobies, "These vampires, what did they take?"

"Well, one of your notebooks," Giles answered, "And a gray flat stone inscribed with a Celtic rune."

"The book is of no matter; they haven't the wits to use it," Johannes dismissed the theft with the wave of his hand, "But the stone, if it's what I suspect, was stolen from my library and is very dangerous. It's a Command stone."

Although Buffy had no idea what he was referring to, still a chill ran up her spine from her brief moment handling what she now realized must be a cursed object.

"Oh dear . . .," Giles muttered as he ran his hand through his hair, "Then the rune is an antimorph and . . ."

"Whoa!" Buffy interrupted, not wanting to be left out of the explanation, "Back the truck up you two. You're losing us."

"A command stone is used to raise up an Ancient One," Giles said, dropping effortlessly into his teaching mode, "The symbol on it is an antimorph. In the upright position it gives the command to rise up. Upside down, it's the opposite."

"Wait, I think I've heard of these Ancient guys," Xander broke in, his voice trembling slightly, "And they are definitely not cool. Buff, didn't we have a run in with one sophmore year?"

"You sure that wasn't your praying mantis biology teacher?" Cordelia let her acid tongue slip in.

"No, Xander's right. I remember," Willow called out and then tried to recite from memory an excerpt from an obscure text, "'The Ancient Ones are from before time and space. They ruled all and were ruled by no one.'"

"Some sources say an Ancient One, if it so chose, could actually _think_ something out of existence," Giles added with a cool, horrid finality.

"You and Willow know the lore," Johannes said, impressed with her and the Watcher.

Willow continued to recite from memory.

"'They were finally cast out into the aether, the Void in that place between the living and the dead, but are always seeking to break forth once more . . . and lay waste to the world as they reclaim their dominions.'"

"And our vampires are going to open the door and invite them right in!" Buffy growled as she rose to her feet, strengthened by the challenge that now lay before them all, "We have to squash this now!"

"I'm with Buff!" Xander agreed, "These Ancient guys sound like the Judge on steroids!"

"Wait, Buffy," Johannes exclaimed as he stood beside her, now placing his hand on her shoulder to hold her back, "It's not quite that bad yet. An Ancient One can only be raised on a moonless night. Sunlight, even if only reflected by the moon, not only overwhelms the power of the stone, it also drives them back into the Void from whence they came."

"So they can't make their move until, uh . . . " Giles scratched his head as he struggled to recall the details of that month's lunar cycle, "Two nights from now?"

"Great, that makes me feel so much better!" Cordelia answered sarcastically.

"Okay," Buffy deferred to her Watcher. At the same time for just a moment, she wished Johannes would leave his hand on her shoulder. It was somehow comforting, "And how do we fight an Ancient One if it gets in?" she asked as she straightened up, ready to give battle to whatever the future would bring.

"We fight it," Johannes replied, "By not letting it get into this world. If it does . . .well . . ." he didn't finish the sentence. There was a brief silence in the library.

"Oh, . . . I get it. . . " Willow finally completed the thought, "poof!"

"Poof!" Johannes nodded in agreement.

*****

**Chapter 5 - The Secret Weapon**

Returning from the raid on the school library, Spike, Drusilla, and Angelus followed by three lackey vampires stormed into their makeshift banquet hall in the old warehouse. Angelus, now in an especially foul mood because of the latest inconclusive run in with the Slayer, struck out at the corpse still dangling upside down from the ceiling rafters. The body swung gently from the impact of the vampire's sloppy and ill placed blow as if it were another insult to the evening's escapade.

Spike with the Command stone in his lap, rolled up to the banquet table and slid it out onto the mahogany surface. Drusilla still cradled the one Martel notebook the group had managed to secure.

"Well, that was a disaster!" Spike announced, his voice dripping sarcasm, "We get just one of the books, and this wizard friend of yours is now fully operational! Not only that, but now that miserable Slayer's little rat pack knows were up to something. If we had waited, like I suggested," Here Spike paused for emphasis, "We would have gotten everything we wanted, no interference. But Goo Goo Doll Eyes over here, "he snarled at Angelus, "Has to sooth his pathetic little ego taking on the Slayer!"

"Be sweet and still now, Spike my love," Drusilla answered, her eyes rolling again, "We have all we need. And our friends saved us the trouble of raising up dear Johannes."

"Yeah, and he's probably spilling the whole story to the Slayer right now!" Spike snapped back.

"Have some faith in Dru, will ya Spike," Angelus replied, coming to Drusilla's defense, "She knows this Martel guy real well. She has a plan."

Angelus turned to Drusilla and raised his eyebrows.

"You do have a plan, don't you Dru?"

"Angelus! My family doesn't believe in me?" Drusilla announced with mock indignation as she placed her free hand over her chest.

"Of course we do," Angelus said with just the faintest hint of nervousness in his answer, "It's just this Martel dude was the one who nearly nailed me four hundred years ago . . . literally."

Angelus sidled up to Drusilla and ran his hands over the skin on her neck.

"Don't get me wrong. I never regret that special night I brought you into our family," he crooned seductively into her ear as his fangs made a little nick on the side of her neck, "But your ex is a dangerous commodity."

"Just this once, I'll lower myself and agree with Angelus," Spike said as he boiled over with jealousy at the actions of the other two vampires. But he decided to hold his temper. He knew later when Angelus went out wandering looking for the Slayer, he would have his way with Drusilla.

"A slayer is one thing," he explained, "But a wizard, he could clean us out with a wave of his hand!"

"But it's all so simple, my darlings," Drusilla cooed as she separated herself from Angelus' embrace, "You see, wizards are stupid. They have one major flaw. They have to help people."

"That's my Dru!" Spike exclaimed with glee, now sensing some particularly nasty activities in store, "Go on, love, tell!"

Drusilla swept into the middle of the banquet hall as if she were on stage before the footlights. She paused by the center of the table, laid down the Martel notebook and gazed on the Command stone.

"I just let my ex fiance know when and where I plan to raise up," she patted the Command stone gently, "Our little pet here."

"An invitation to a surprise party! What fun!" Spike nodded in appreciation.

"He, of course, dashes to the rescue of the world," Drusilla waved her arms in the air and swayed back and forth like a demented ballerina, "He uses all his remaining energy putting the Ancient One back down and 'voila!'"

Drusilla suddenly stopped swaying. She dropped her arms to her side and glared out into empty space. Her eyes bulged and her face morphed into the vampire rage. Finally she spoke with the coldness of the ocean depths.

"His spell disintegrates and our wizard returns to dust!"

Spike clapped his hands in applause.

"Not only are you are a manipulative bitch," he grinned as his face morphed as well, "You're bloody damn lucid for a change!"

"Now, tell me how much you love me," Drusilla cooed as she slid down the table to the side of Spike's wheelchair. There she licked his neck lasciviously and turned to grin at Angelus.

"You are good," Spike whispered back, succumbing to his lover's wiles.

"How do you think I took out our magic friend four hundred years ago," she smiled back as her teeth brushed against his skin.

"But Dru," Angelus complained, once again being left out of the "family" activities, "Why should we bust our butts to get this guy?"

"Angelus, dear, what did the Slayer do to you that's had you so out of sorts? . . ." Drusilla replied coldly, her voice hissing as she spoke, "Well, the wizard tried to do the same to me . . . give me back my soul . . . make me happy . . . and for that the bastard must pay!"

"Ah, Dru, I love it when you seethe!" Spike said as he buried his face in her long brown hair.

"Besides, I long for all his knowledge, . . . " Drusilla continued relishing the thought and now ignoring Spike's advances, "His energy, . . . his powers . . . all in my hand . . . in a little jar."

* * * * * * * *

Buffy, Johannes, Giles, Willow, Xander and Cordelia walked as a group down the Sunnydale High steps under a night sky filled with stars. They all paused together by the edge of the sidewalk and the school parking lot. Buffy glanced at Johannes by her side as he stared around at the buildings, streetlights, cars driving by on the street and all the other everyday fixtures of the "New World."

"I guess all this must look pretty strange," she said to him almost apologetically.

"You cannot imagine," he murmured and sighed. To her surprise, Buffy automatically reached out and took his arm in hers and squeezed it reassuringly.

"Hey," she said softly and paused. "It's gonna be okay. Trust me."

"I do," he answered her, and she stared back at him.

"Real culture shock," Willow joined in the conversation, "All the lights and machines."

"At least the stars are the same," Johannes said quietly as he stared up at the night sky.

"Yeah, I guess they would be," Buffy nodded in agreement as they headed towards Cordelia's red convertible and Giles beat up Citroen.

"Okay, now you're staying with Giles," Buffy said as she turned to face Johannes, "And then we'll see you in the morning."

"All of you are going to be all right?" Giles addressed the group.

"I'll make sure everyone get's home safe," Cordelia announced calmly. For the first time that day she felt she was finally in control since she was the only one who had both a drivers license and a car.

"Yeah, and if we get attacked again, Cordy'll just run 'em down," Xander quipped as he play whispered to Cordelia, "Pretend they're the cones in driver's ed."

Cordelia just rolled her eyes at Xander's remark.

"We'll be okay," Buffy grinned.

"Buffy, are you sure this is such a good idea, Johannes coming to school?" Giles asked warily.

"Sure," she smiled back at her Watcher and then faced Johannes, "You're up for it? Right?"

"I've already lost four hundred years. What's left to lose?" the young telekinetic said as he shrugged his shoulders.

"But, it would be safer . . ." Giles protested but Buffy immediately cut him off.

"Giles, to help us he's gotta know what's going on around here," she said and then nodded to Johannes, "We'll take good care of you."

"I'm relieved," he answered as he stared wide eyed at the two cars in front of them.

"One thing, though," she quickly slipped in, "Lose the weird clothes."

"Sorry. Didn't have time to pack," he replied.

Buffy smiled and realized that Johannes for the first time that night was smiling back at her. At the same time, Giles climbed into the clunky Citroen.

"Go on, get outta here," Buffy grinned and gently directed Johannes towards the rear of Giles' car. Suddenly he stopped, clearly puzzled by what he was supposed to do next.

"What's wrong? Get in," Buffy said.

Johannes still didn't move and only stared at the peculiarly shaped vehicle. Buffy suddenly realized that he had never seen a car before and hadn't a clue how to even open the door. She shook her head in disgust, marched to the passenger's side and pulled on the door handle. As the door swung open, it groaned on rusty hinges.

"Get in," Buffy ordered Johannes firmly.

Johannes walked up to the passenger's side but then stood frozen staring at the interior.

"Sit in the seat!" Buffy explained, now getting a little exasperated.

Finally, Johannes lowered himself into the Citroen. Buffy leaned over and buckled his seat belt. Suddenly finding himself restrained, Johannes stared up at her with an instant look of panic on his face.

"Trust me," she said with a grin.

". . . but! . . ." he stammered.

Buffy slammed the car door. Giles turned over the engine. Through the window, Buffy could see Johannes' fear turn to horror as Giles tapped the accelerator and the engine clattered. Giles ground the gears as he put the manual shift Citroen into first and tried to pull out. As the car drove away, belching exhaust and disappeared down the street, the Scoobies heard a final cry over the roar of the engine.

'SACRE MERDE!"

As the exhaust fumes dissipated, Buffy turned to look back at the others.

"Oh . . my . . God!" Cordelia said out loud.

Xander put his chin in his hand and in a mock effort to appear thoughtful, expressed what the rest of the Scoobies were thinking.

"You know Buff, if this guy's supposed to be some kind of secret weapon . . ."

"Don't go there, Xander!" she cut him off, shaking her head, "Just don't go there!"

TO BE CONTINUED!

* * * * * 


	2. Part 2, chapters 6 through 8

**CARPE DIEM - pt. 2**

_by Gaius Petronius_

DISCLAIMER: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all the characters that appear on the show are the exclusive property of Joss Whedon, the WB and Mutant Enemy, Inc. GP only lays claim to the character of Jonathan, but Mutant Enemy can have him anytime they want him. The Ancient One is loosely derived from the Cthulhu Mythos stories of the classic 20th century horror writer, H. P. Lovecraft. The selected lyrics from "It's a Beautiful Life" are copyright by Ace of Base and Arista Records. Selected lyrics from "Dreams" are copyright by The Cranberries and Island Records. Obviously, I make no money from any of this.

Spoilers and Synopsis:  
Originally written as a script in mid season 2 (Jan - March 1998) just after Angel lost his soul. Willow accidently reanimates an eighteen year old telekinetic from the seventeenth century, Johannes Martel who may hold the secred to restoring a vampire's lost soul.

Rating: PG-13 for some violence and language.

A Note On the Text:  
The plot for the original script version of Carpe Diem was drafted in mid season two before Angel's age and the relationship with Dru and Spike were fully developed. The dating in this story and their backgrounds, as a result, are a departure from BtVS canon.

**Chapter 6 - Cousin Jonathan**

"Morning again," Willow thought to herself as students trotted in herds up the front steps at Sunnydale High. Just like yesterday and probably exactly the same as tomorrow. Everything looked the same, the crowds, the noise, the pecking order, the perpetual southern California sunshine, the pulsating Hellmouth underneath their feet. Yes, Willow mused, it was all the same with one exception. There would be a "new "student today, an additional member of the Scoobies.

That's what was different, earth shatteringly different. Now in reality, Johannes was only going to pose as a new exchange student so the whole thing really didn't count but still if anyone was a pre-ordained Scooby, it was him.

Willow smiled to herself. Sure Johannes was cute and pretty smart, with the exception of some major blank spots pertaining to current events. Okay, the whole modern world, then.

She could tell Buffy, unconsciously if nothing else, already had her eye on him. In spite of Oz, Willow realized she did as well. But it wasn't all black and white and just another cute guy they were going to squabble over. After all, there were the off the wall clothes and the fact that he also could move things around by just thinking about them. There was also the issue from last night of her own dislocated shoulder that wasn't dislocated anymore so everything was a little confusing. But Johannes was all right . . . and still cute. Yeah, Willow nodded again, he was definitely cute.

But she and Buffy would have to come up with another name. "Johannes," that was just too weird, kind of like the names of the weapons Giles kept hidden in the locked closet in the library. It would never fly at Sunnydale.

Before she realized it, Willow looked around at Buffy and Xander standing by her side.

"Sneak up on a girl, why dontcha," Willow remarked to Xander who only shrugged.

"Where's Big John?" he asked trying not to show any serious interest.

"Be here in a minute," Buffy volunteered. "I phoned Giles before I left home."

"I hope he got some better clothes," Willow said with a frown.

"Anything, even Giles' stuff'd beat those funky duds," Xander agreed.

"Relax," Buffy replied, "Giles said they hit the mall last night before going to his place."

She scanned the crowds of students and the cars pulling up to the curb in front of the school. Her Watcher's clunky Citroen was nowhere to be seen.

"Okay," Buffy said as she searched for the telltale blue exhaust that would let them know Giles' bomb car was in the vicinity, "We gotta get the stories straight. Now his name is gonna be 'Jonathan,' and he's a cousin of mine from Europe."

Xander snickered. Willow knew the crack was only seconds away.

"Yeah, with a name like Summers, you got lots of German, French, Russian, hey maybe even Polish relatives."

"Shut up!" Buffy snapped as a backfire announced the arrival of the librarian's beat up car, "Here he comes."

"This should be a rip," Xander muttered.

Giles drove his clunky old Citroen up to the curb. After a moment's hesitation, Johannes clambered out, slammed the car door a little too forcefully and walked up the front steps of Sunnydale High. He was wearing a pair of Dockers jeans, a light shirt and new Reeboks.

"Yup," Willow nodded as she sighed, "Giles took him shopping."

Johannes glanced around, desperately searching for someone he knew. Willow almost jumped up and down as she waved to catch his attention. He spotted her immediately and quickly joined the group.

"Hi!" Buffy said with her best morning perky she had learned from Willow. The pre-noon hours were not the Slayer's favorite time of day but knowing how to put on the bubblies always came in handy during first and second periods.

"Hey Jonno, nice rags," Xander grinned as he briefly examined the new arrival's outfit.

"Good morning," Willow said sweetly as she mentally curtsied.

Johannes was oddly silent for a moment. Willow imagined he looked like he was going to explode. Finally a single word burst from his lips.

". . . Hey . . ."

Buffy, Willow and Xander stared at each other in astonishment.

"What?" Buffy stammered.

Bewildered by their reaction, Johannes glanced back and forth at Willow, Xander and Buffy.

"Did I say it wrong?"

"What?" Buffy repeated.

"Hey," he said again, now totally confused.

Xander covered his mouth and began to laugh. The look on Johannes' face verged on panic. Buffy eyed him with an expression that clearly asked "What's going on here?"

"Giles still hates this idea," the young telekinetic finally burst out, "But he said if I was going to come to school, so I don't stick out, I have to act and talk like you all do so . . . 'Hey!'. . ."

Finally getting it, Buffy started to laugh as well.

"That's an okay start," she grinned and slapped him on the shoulder. "Now listen up. We gotta get all the stories straight here cause that Snyder is a vulture, and we have to be ready for him."

Johannes, wide eyed and wondering what kind of entity the despicable "Snyder" was, nodded eagerly.

"Your name is gonna be 'Jonathan,'" Buffy declared.

"That's what Telemon calls me," Johannes said trying to be helpful," He's from Scotland and taught me English."

"Shhh," Buffy ordered, "Don't confuse things, just listen. Your name is Jonathan. You're my cousin."

The newly christened Jonathan nodded again.

"You're a foreign exchange student," Buffy continued methodically, "And you're from . . . " she suddenly paused, not able to think of a location.

"Where _are_ you from?" she asked him.

"The Holy Roman Empire?" he answered in confusion.

"NO!" Buffy snapped, "That won't cut it."

"Vienna?" Jonathan tried again trying to please.

"Better!" Buffy exclaimed, "We'll use that."

Jonathan nodded again.

"Now stick close," Buffy said like a staff sergeant, "Keep your mouth shut, and DON'T do anything weird!"

Xander shoved his fist in his mouth, struggling to suppress a laugh. Willow, whose imagination was running full tilt regarding what might constitute "anything weird," grinned from ear to ear.

Buffy spun about and glared at her friends.

"No laughing!" she demanded, "This is going to be hard enough!"

"Laughing? No laughing here," Willow replied as her grin dropped into an upside down smiley face and she turned to Xander, "Do you see funny? I don't see funny." Xander only ran his hand though his thick black hair and nonchalantly surveyed the intricate pattern in the concrete that made up the stairs and retaining walls of the school.

"Funny?" Xander responded, desperately trying to contain the witty remark that was battling its way from his brain to his vocal chords. "Never heard of the word."

Buffy sighed in disgust as she grabbed Jonathan by the arm and together both climbed the stairs to the front door.

For a second, Willow and Xander hesitated. They stared at each other and both instantly broke into huge grins.

"This is gonna be great," Willow smirked to her childhood best bud.

"Ah, embarrassment, humiliation, degradation," Xander waxed rhapsodic, "All the everyday events that constitute the modern learning experience, . . . at someone else's expense for a change! This IS gonna be great!" he grinned back at Willow.

Both turned and ran up the stairs as the morning class bell rang dissonately in their ears, sending them and the rest of the remaining students on the steps scurrying for home room.

"You can do what you want,   
Just seize the day.  
What you're doing tomorrow's   
Gonna come your way.  
If you ever trust it or give enough,  
You will find, oh,  
It's a beautiful life."

The pace was fast and furious at Sunnydale High that morning, as it was five out of seven days of the week. In the moments before first period, Buffy, Willow, and Xander, now joined by Cordelia Chase, rounded a corner in the school hallway heading towards class with what seemed like hundreds of other students whirling about them. Totally bewildered by the speed and confusion and lagging behind, Jonathan followed, stumbled, scrambled and did just about anything he could to round the same corner in a failing attempt to keep up.

"Come on, you gotta keep moving if you want to go to school here," Buffy called out over her shoulder as she waved him on. Jonathan gulped, put in an extra burst of speed and squeezed through a herd of hovering freshmen just in time to join the Scoobies as they all piled into first period Algebra II.

Willow dropped into her usual chair towards the front of the room, while Buffy with Jonathan next to her, took up a position in the relative obscurity of the back row. Algebra II was evil, almost as evil as the demons detailed in Giles' books in the library. Buffy knew the key to surviving Algebra II was invisibility. There were plenty of students like Willow who consistently raised their hands with an "Oh, call on me please!" earnestness to provide cover. Now, as the teacher scribbled on the blackboard reams of chalk markings that looked to Buffy little different from Giles' hieroglyphics, several hands, including Willow's rose in response to the posed question.

Then, like an image out of Buffy's worst nightmare, Jonathan sheepishly started to lift his hand into the air. Warning sirens rang wildly in the Slayer's head. Unnoticed by the rest of the class, she reached across and tugged at his elbow. Jonathan glanced over at her. Buffy silently shook her head back and forth with her eyes desperately screaming "Not a good idea!" Slowly, Jonathan pulled his hand back down. Buffy breathed a deep sigh of relief. Disaster Number One successfully averted.

The blast of the bell ending first period had a reaction similar to the whole scale application of cattle prods to a herd of nervous Holstiens. Once again, Sunnydale's student body poured like the bursting of the Johnstown dam out into the hallways between classes.

Here Buffy, Willow and Xander met up again with Cordelia. From out of nowhere, Willow's werewolf boyfriend and band member, Oz, unceremoniously joined them, making the Scooby Gang complete if only for a few seconds. Jonathan, now more accustomed to the rapid pace, kept up with the group as if he were a full fledged Sunnydale student. He still stared in bewilderment at the posters, overhead lights, and endless rows of what looked like metal compartments lining the walls.

"Those are lockers," Willow offered as she realized Jonathan was probably drowning in a sea of questions. The Scoobies paused in front of Buffy's. The Slayer quickly spun the combination in several directions, banged open the door, roughly tossed in a book and deftly caught a particularly large wooden stake as it unexpectedly tumbled out of the crammed metal compartment.

Jonathan's eyes widened as Buffy swiftly stuffed the weapon back in, praying as she did that no one who would rat on her had seen it.

"That's Mr. Pointie," Willow whispered in Jonathan's ear.

"Oh . . ." he nodded back as if it all made perfect sense.

In second period Natural Sciences class, Buffy and Jonathan were paired in the weekly lab experiment. Unfortunately, as was usually the case, the Slayer's chemistry knowledge was little better than that in Algebra II. Here there was no back row in which to hide. Sporting a heavy stained apron and a set of safety goggles that scrunched up her long blond hair on the back of her head, Buffy stood on the edge of the pit of doom as she held two test tubes filled with clear liquid. A beaker full of more unknown clear liquid sat on the lab station counter in front of her.

The challenge was simple yet fraught with failure and humiliation. She must pour one of the test tubes into the beaker for the experiment to succeed, . . . but which one? She hadn't a clue. As she stood in confusion, tottering on the edge of another failing grade, the science teacher, Mr. Tarbox, walked by and glared at her with a look of "You're going to screw this one up, too, aren't you Summers!" He then sauntered on, smugly confident in the inevitable outcome.

Buffy, in desperation, resorted to the time honored strategy of any student faced with an "either/or" or "true/false" response. She threw herself upon the mercy of the Gods and guessed. "Eenie, Meenie, Minie, Mo," she pantomimed.

As she was about to pour the contents of the tube in her left hand into the beaker, Jonathan tapped her left arm. She quickly looked up at him. Jonathan almost imperceptibly shook his head, "No." He then indicated with his eyes the tube in her right hand. Buffy took a deep breath, stepped forward to the edge of the crater of doom and poured the contents of the test tube in her right hand into the beaker. The liquid in the beaker instantly turned a brilliant rich blue.

Today the Gods were merciful, and Buffy let out a sigh of relief. Mr. Tarbox, sliding among the row of lab stations, stopped, glanced at her results and shook his head in disbelief with a look of "You lucked out that time, Summers!" He then moved on searching for other hapless victims.

Disaster Number Two narrowly averted. Buffy gratefully glanced at Jonathan and silently mouthed the words, "Thank you." Jonathan winked back and replied without speaking, "No sweat!" Buffy's mouth opened in an astonished smile.

Eating lunch at Sunnydale High usually involved entering the cafeteria demilitarized zone. Those who valued their tastebuds and lower intestines, avoided the school lunches and contented themselves with rations brought from home. Only students of the strongest constitution, members of the wrestling and football teams, the totally stoned, and Xander Harris dared eat the piles and patties of mysterious organic and semi organic solids that passed for nutrition in the lunch lines.

Buffy, Jonathan, Willow, Oz, and Xander all sat together at a long lunch table that seemed to be reserved specifically for Sunnydale's social outcasts. Cordelia Chase sauntered by and when no one was looking, quickly sat down next to Xander.

Buffy offered Jonathan half of her peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Puzzled, Jonathan stared at it, then, with silent encouragement from Buffy, slowly took a bite. His cheeks bulged like a squirrel's and his eyes enlarged at the totally new taste. He then hesitantly chewed and swallowed.

Attempting to complete the New World gourmet experience, Willow showed Jonathan how to open a milk carton. Now the Gods were not to be as merciful this time as Disaster Number Three swept down on the table with the suddenness of an attack of Harpies. As Jonathan started to drink the milk, Xander told a joke.

It wasn't one of his best. Actually it was fairly lame but because it was about Principal Snyder, the whole table broke up laughing, even Jonathan who was caught in mid swallow. Suddenly, he choked and covered his face with his hands as a thin line of milk dribbled out his nose. Buffy and Willow yelled at Xander who stood up like a victorious athlete and raised his hands to the applause of an imaginary world.

"YES! I, Xander the Great, have made milk run out the Wizard's nose!"

"I'm not a Wizard!" Jonathan gagged and sputtered.

"Eeeew!" Cordelia squealed.

Laughing, Buffy quickly slapped a napkin across her "cousin's" face.

Lunch period was all downhill from there. Adjourning to the outside front steps of Sunnydale High, Oz, Willow and Buffy sat with Jonathan and attempted to explain to him the intricacies of a compact CD player. Tentatively, Jonathan let Oz put the player's set of headphones over his head. Oz then loaded in a CD. When he turned on the music, it nearly blasted off Jonathan's ears. Believing he was under assault by unknown entities, the young telekinetic thrashed as he tried to rip off the head set.

This time it was Buffy to the rescue. She quickly pulled the set off, paused the player and struggled to calm Jonathan down.

"Easy, Easy!" she said, desperately trying to soothe the excited new Scooby.

"SACRE MERDE! My ears!" he cried out as he suspiciously watched her handling the headset. Oz's eyebrows rose modestly in surprise at the French profanity.

"Let's try again," Buffy said calmly.

"YOU try again!" Jonathan exclaimed.

"Hey," Buffy answered, staring him straight in the eyes, "Trust me."

"Okay, "Jonathan said firmly as he returned her gaze, "Since it's about all I have to go on here, I trust you."

Smiling, Buffy put the headset on her own head first, adjusted the volume and began to dance, lightly bouncing her hips back and forth with the beat. Fascinated, Jonathan watched her for a minute.

"Here, lemme try!" he said as he reached out for the headset. Buffy quickly placed it over his ears. Jonathan listened for a few seconds with a puzzled look on his face. Then he began to get the rhythm of the music and rocked back and forth with the beat. Buffy nodded in time and felt the pride of victory as her "Cousin" smiled and swayed to the music.

The successful learning experience hit a snag down in the parking lot a few minutes later. Having corralled Cordelia to administer a driving lesson, Xander sat Jonathan down behind the wheel of the head cheerleader's bright red convertible. Buffy, Willow, and Oz stood at a safe distance down the sidewalk waiting for the explosion. They were quickly joined by Xander who had just successfully lit the fuse.

Inside the car, Jonathan turned the wheel back and forth as Cordelia in the front passenger's seat pointed at the dashboard and shouted muffled instructions.

From their vantage point, Willow, Buffy, Xander and Oz could see Cordelia waving her arms in a panic as the car suddenly lurched forward then screeched to a stop. Cordelia jumped out screaming "Get Out! Get Out!"

Jonathan abandoned the driver's seat, glared at Cordelia in disgust, looked back at the others and raised his hands.

"What did I do?"

For a moment, Buffy and Willow couldn't stop laughing. At the same time, Willow suddenly realized she couldn't remember the last time she saw her best friend laughing so hard and smiling so brightly.

"Take a walk in the park when you feel low.  
There's so many things there that're gonna lift you up.  
See the nature in bloom, a laughing child.  
Such a dream, oh,  
It's a beautiful life"

* * * * * * * *

**Chapter 7 - "We try not to look back . . ."**

The entire student body at Sunnydale High and virtually all of the faculty recognized Billy Cluttz and Ted Munson. Most wished they didn't. The two sophomores, variously referred to as Ren and Stimpy, Thing One and Thing Two, the Booze Bros. or (Xander's preference) Dude 1 and Dude 2, were a pair of students that struggled with great care and forethought at maintaining their own brand of "cool."

Their daily uniforms for attending school included turned back baseball caps, untied sneakers and baggy floor dragging jeans that would show their butt cracks if their shirts weren't hanging out. That was their revenge on Principal Snyder whenever he demanded they adhere to the dress code and tuck in their shirts. By carefully stuffing all the baggy shirt clothe into the front, they skillfully displayed nature's unmistakable handiwork in all its glory, pimples and all, in the back. After that, Snyder left them alone. That and the fact that bathing was a ritual they hadn't yet mastered.

Their challenges to Snyder would normally have earned them a well deserved place among Sunnydale High's upcoming student elite. However, they included one fairly nasty trait that kept many of their fellow classmates at bay. They ate Freshmen, figuratively of course, but Buffy and Willow often found themselves thinking of Munson and Cluttz first if a younger Sunnydale student suddenly went "missing" as was becoming more and more common.

In a disturbing practice that seemed to be a holdover from the last days of Principal Flutie, Munson and Cluttz periodically singled out what appeared to be the weakest freshman in a pack and circled for the figurative kill. Today, their prey was little Mary Sabatini.

Mary was short, very plain (in southern California, a curse upon the child and family that used to result in exposure at birth on a mountainside, now merely ostracism at school), sported pig tails, braces and those heavy glasses with lenses that resembled the bottoms of soda bottles. Unaware of her peril, she struggled to manage a large armful of textbooks as Munson and Cluttz zeroed in.

Munson, now morphed into his Dude1 identity, deliberately slammed into Mary, sending her books tumbling in a crash to the linoleum. As Cluttz, now Dude 2, moved closer, the neighboring school of freshmen, in a typical instinctive self preservation response, scattered in different directions leaving the hapless Mary at the mercy of the descending predators.

It was then that Buffy, Willow, Xander and Jonathan passed by on the way to afternoon class. As they were about to walk around the corner in the hall and head out of sight, Jonathan, who was last in line, heard the commotion behind him at the other end of the hall. He stopped and turned back to look.

"Man, these froshes get dumber every year," Dude 1 snarled to Dude 2.

Jonathan broke off from the group and strode quickly down the hallway to intervene. At the same time, Xander realized that Buffy's "Cousin" was no longer under the collective security umbrella of the Scoobies.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Xander called out to the departing telekinetic and then shouted a warning to the Slayer, "Buffy! 'Cousin Jonno's making a break for it!"

"What?" Buffy spun on her heels as she saw what looked like Disaster Number Four pouring down on them, "Oh, no! Jonathan!"

"Yeah, and uglier, too," Dude 2 growled as he stepped up and leered into Mary's face.

Suddenly Jonathan put himself between the Dudes and their intended prey. There was no hostility in his voice or anger on his face.

"Hey, gang. What's up?" he grinned but with a firmness in his tone that the other Scoobies had never heard.

"Just showing this lamo how to carry her books," Dude 2 answered, trying to rise to the challenge, "Who the hell are you anyway?"

"Why don't you give her a hand?" Jonathan said carefully, ignoring the pack of hostility circling around him.

"What's it to you?" Dude 1 snarled.

"Yeah, buzz off!" Dude 2 parroted.

"Now, Cousin, don't do anything to embarrass me!" Buffy said desperately as she reached his side.

"No problem, Buffy," Jonathan answered all cheery and at the same time like steel, "These two guys were gonna help," here he turned to Mary, "uh, . . I didn't get your name."

"It's Mary," she answered meekly, as her eyes searched for an escape route to the safety of the pack of freshmen lurking at the end of the hallway.

"Mary, okay," Jonathan said pleasantly enough as he turned to the Dudes, "You were just gonna help Mary with her stuff. Isn't that right guys?"

Jonathan fixed the two Dudes with an intense gaze. All at once, their hostility vanished and suddenly Dude 1 and Dude 2 were merely Munson and Cluttz again.

"Uh, yeah, that's right," Ted Munson said humbly turning to Mary, "Sorry I bumped you. Let me give you a hand."

"Yeah, me too," Billy Cluttz jumped in to help.

As both bent down to help Mary Sabatini collect her books, they flashed their collective butt cracks. The Scoobies all winced.

"Where were you when I was a freshman!" Willow said quietly in admiration to Jonathan.

"Yeah, you want to teach me that trick?" Xander piped in, "As a certified un-cool person, I can't count the times that would've come in handy."

Suddenly, Principal Snyder, his radar sensing exposed flesh, burst through the crowd of students and glared at the group.

"What's the hold up here?" he shouted. "There's a crowd and crowds mean trouble and trouble means . . . " suddenly he spotted Buffy at Jonathan's side, ". . . . Summers!"

"Uh, hi," Buffy grinned meekly as if she were caught in the act. It seemed Disaster Number Four had taken an unexpected and more ominous turn.

"All right, what are you barbarians plotting?" Snyder prepared to grill the miscreants as he placed his hands on his hips.

"Nothing," Willow volunteered to get Buffy off the hook, "We were just helping Mary here with her books."

"Altruism!? Good deeds!?" Snyder snapped, "And banks give out free samples! I don't think so! Summers, you are trouble!"

"Yes, sir," Buffy nodded, realizing resistance was futile.

"And you!" Snyder suddenly lashed out at Jonathan, "Are you with her?"

"Yes, sir," Jonathan, now confronted by "the Snyder," followed Buffy's lead.

"Then you are trouble, too," the short balding principal announced.

"Yes, sir," Jonathan nodded in full agreement.

"Trouble belongs in the classroom. Now get there!"

Like the Emperor of Sunnydale, Principal Snyder turned with a flourish and strode down the hallway. Mary, Munson and Cluttz, relieved to escape with their skins, ran off for class. As Snyder almost turned the corner in the hallway, Jonathan subtly reached out with his hand and waved in a downward motion at the departing Principal. At the same time, Snyder's pants, of their own accord, suddenly dropped to his knees as if someone had snuck up behind him and yanked them down.

There was a flash of flesh, butt crack and something utterly unnameable as Buffy, Willow, and Xander, stifling laughter, pushed, shoved and scrambled around the corner pulling Jonathan with them. There was also the disturbing image of lavender boxers seared into the Scoobies' collective memories. Buffy knew she was going to have nightmares.

"Geez, you're gonna get us all suspended!" Xander exclaimed, relishing the sophomoric revenge of which he had so often dreamed.

"I thought it was funny," Jonathan protested as Buffy desperately dragged him by the arm.

"Me, too!" Willow grinned from ear to ear.

Now alone in the hallway, Snyder struggled to pull up his pants and regain his dignity. He spun about in a fury, but the corridors around him were all strangely silent and empty.

"Savages!" he muttered.

* * * * * * *

A free period late in the day was like gold at Sunnydale. Almost every student practiced the time honored technique of procrastination. Study halls during fifth and sixth period were usually an excuse to relax, catch up on gossip or just plain goof off. Not even Willow would spend more than a few minutes of a late day study hall actually doing homework for the next day. That's what early morning study halls were for.

So sixth period found Buffy, Xander, Oz, and Cordelia all gathered around Willow and Jonathan who were parked in front Willow's terminal set up in the library. At first Giles had been highly suspicious of allowing one the "infernal machines" within his sanctuary of learning. After all, libraries were for books and books alone. To the librarian, cathode ray tubes and clicking fingers on keypads somehow conflicted with the gentle, wind-like flowing sound of paper pages being turned. Of course there was the occasional jarring slam of a book cover abruptly smacked shut but that only happened when Giles was in a temper.

But this afternoon, the librarian was off on some errand at one of downtown Sunnydale's less reputable magic retail establishments. As Willow had casually informed him, the mall was probably not the best place to locate toad warts, weasel tails and other peculiar ingredients for whatever activities he was contemplating. So this afternoon, the Scoobies had the library all to themselves.

Willow, typing away, carefully explained the functioning of her computer to Jonathan who stared in dumb astonishment. Unlike Giles who considered the massive beige plastic box with its hidden circuitry a threat to all established forms of learning, Jonathan was amazed at the inherent power contained within the electronic mysteries of the device.

"And this machine communicates with individuals and libraries all over the world?" he asked, his eyes almost bugging out of his head as Willow entered her data.

"Right, it's called the Internet," she answered over her shoulder while not taking her eyes from the screen, "I can search university and government archives, city and town records, just about anything."

"Astonishing . . ." Jonathan answered shaking his head as he turned to Buffy, "What is it you say? 'Awesome!'"

"You got that right," Buffy nodded.

Suddenly Jonathan had a thought that Buffy instantly knew was going to be one of those "difficult" questions to answer.

"And what's to keep this device out of the hands of those who would use it for evil?" he asked the Slayer in all innocence.

Buffy turned desperately to Willow who shrugged her shoulders and made a face as if to say "nothing." Jonathan's eyes widened again as the impact of the unspoken answer sank in.

"This New World holds terrors other than vampires," he said softly to Buffy.

"Didn't take you long to figure that one out," she nodded in agreement.

"Here, let me show you," Willow interrupted before the conversation could get heavy, "This is how we found out all about you."

Jonathan settled in closer to study the monitor screen. Willow talked in a chatty voice while her fingers flew across the keyboard.

"First I open my search engine," she said, "Then I type in 'Johannes Martel' and click 'search.'"

She looked up at Jonathan who clearly hadn't understood a thing she had done.

"Trust me," she responded to what she knew was a million questions.

"I'm hearing a lot of that around here lately," he answered as he glanced with a smile over his shoulder at Buffy.

"Now we wait, while it does its thing . . ." Willow continued as a series of links popped up on the screen, "See, there it's coming up. Oh! There's a bunch of stuff!"

"Oh," Jonathan muttered, not sure exactly what he was looking at.

"There's a file I haven't seen," Willow said with a little surprise at having missed data in the previous day's search, "We'll bring that one up."

She clicked her mouse, selecting a link.

"Now we wait again . . . " she smiled as she sat back in her chair. The monitor flickered as a page of text appeared. "There! Let's read all about you!"

"Doesn't that feel kind of creepy?" Buffy said to Jonathan.

"Yeah," he answered quietly.

"Wow!" Willow exclaimed as she read, "You were in the Court of the Holy Roman Emperor at Vienna during the Thirty Years War?!"

"The How Many Years War!?" Jonathan exclaimed, the smile vanishing from his face.

"Skip that part, Will," Buffy said quickly.

"And it says you were engaged to the Crown Princess of the Holy Roman Empire!" Willow said excitedly as she stared back at Jonathan. Suddenly she realized he was a little more than just "cute."

"Yeah," he said humbly, "You see, Telemon says I'm supposed to be descended from Charles Martel, the father of Charlemagne. They reestablished the northern part of the Roman Empire 400 years after it fell and Charlemagne was crowned the first Holy Roman Emperor on Christmas Day, in 800 A.D."

"Then, . . . you're . . . like royalty?" Buffy asked, barely able to contain her astonishment.

"No!" Jonathan contradicted her with a scowl, "I'm just me. The old emperor Constans was failing and his daughter, the Crown Princess would have nothing to do with any of the prune faced nobles they were trying to marry her off to."

Buffy studied Jonathan as she began to see him in an entirely new light.

"Couriers from the court came one day and ordered Telemon to bring me before the Emperor and the Crown Princess. Telemon thought it was a tremendous 'opportunity,'" Jonathan paused as if he were remembering a day long distant in time.

"And . . .?" Buffy exclaimed impatiently.

"I told him he was nuts!" Jonathan smirked, "But I'd come along for the ride. The couriers' swords, also, were persuasive."

"What happened? What about the Princess," Willow asked and Buffy, for once, wished Willow hadn't spoken up as she saw Jonathan smile fondly.

"She was real funny," he said as he grinned, "A little drifty upstairs, not quite right, but we had a lot of fun. She couldn't stand all the dress and formality at court so we played practical jokes, covering for each other. Ya know . . ."

Jonathan waved his hand like he did at Principal Snyder in the hall. Willow snickered.

"Wow, you two had real intense authority problems," Oz said cracking the faintest grin.

"Now this is my kind of guy! No fear!" Xander agreed.

Jonathan relished the attention, laughing as he remembered what were obviously better times.

"The Princess always would break up during the most solemn ceremonies," he exclaimed as the grin spread across his face, "And we loved humiliating the stupid ambassadors. They were the ones who wanted her to marry some Duke or Count who was like, . . . decrepit!"

"Eeew," Cordelia responded with her favorite vocabulary word.

"It was so easy," Jonathan rattled on and Buffy marveled at how his smile was almost as broad as Willow's. "Once in a while I'd get caught with my little . . . , " here he waved his hand again, "And she'd have to throw a fit, you know, rolling around on the floor, kicking and all that to cause a diversion. Give me a chance to sneak away."

Everyone in the library broke up laughing.

"OH MY GOD!" Cordelia squealed.

"And we thought life was wild on the Hellmouth!" Buffy said enthusiastically, trying to get Jonathan's attention but Willow interrupted her.

"And it says you drove off the army of Gustaphus Adolphus by making the sun disappear?!" Willow read off the screen.

"What a load of rat's crap!" Jonathan replied, waving his hand dismissively, "That was just a solar eclipse. The Swedish army had the capital surrounded so I sent an ultimatum under Constans' name to Adolphus threatening all kinds of stupid magic shit."

Buffy shook her head in disbelief.

"Then Telemon and I went up on the city walls half naked in view of the Swedish army, yelled some nonsense and lit off gunpowder. Astronomy and superstition did the rest!"

"That's crazy!" Xander exclaimed and added a thought that entered his head, ". . . and beyond dumb!"

"It was risky," Jonathan agreed, "Adolphus and his generals knew it was a trick, but it scared shit out of the superstitious troops just enough so they wouldn't fight."

"No, I mean you! You're a screaming crazy man," Xander added in admiration.

"It was kind of funny," Jonathan said modestly and smirked at the same time.

Laughter rang out again in the normally stuffy confines of the library. Willow, wanting the fun never to end, continued reading off the computer screen.

"And let's see, what's next," she said smiling as she scrolled down the page.

She read to herself but what she saw no longer made her laugh. Her eyes widened in horror and the smile vanished from her face. She looked at Jonathan.

". . . the plague . . ." she said, barely able to read.

All the laughter in the room suddenly died like the descent of an early autumn frost on a field of wildflowers. Jonathan turned away from Willow and the computer screen. Buffy saw his smile slip away replaced by a look of aching intensity far greater than she could possibly imagine from someone her own age.

"In the last days of the siege, the plague appeared in the city," Willow read slowly from the text on the screen, "Soon Death loomed over every door. Bodies lay unclaimed in the streets. The Wizard Martel traveled from house to house using spells and potions to combat the disease, his patients largely children."

Buffy and Xander stared at Jonathan as both struggled to understand what they were hearing. His face creased with the pain of the memories, Jonathan began talking out loud as if no one else was in the library.

"The adults . . ." he said softly, "With the plague they cursed everything; the sun, the moon, the stars, angels in heaven, devils under the earth. But the children . . . they only whimpered, or suffered in silence as if accepting what fate had cast down on them . . ."

Suddenly Jonathan looked up at Buffy and cried out, the despair in his voice sending chills down her spine.

"I had to do something!"

Willow read more from the text.

"Desperate parents from all across the city and even from the countryside brought their children to him, some in the final throws of disease and some beyond all aid."

A tone of fear suddenly crept into Willow's voice as she looked up at Jonathan sitting near her side.

" . . . And he healed them, . . ." she said almost in a whisper.

"I did everything I could, but it wouldn't end! I ran out of herbs and had to use only 'the gift.' But there were so many. It got so I could hardly walk, I got dizzy . . . so many I couldn't help. The children just kept coming!" Suddenly, Jonathan hung his head and put one hand over his face.

And still Willow read from the nightmare chronicle.

"For days and nights the Wizard wandered the city from door to door giving aid to all he met until beggars found him collapsed at the base of the Stairways of Mourning, himself now a victim. He lay there alone, unaided as none dared approach for fear of the contagion. Then finally several women, mothers of children he had healed, bore him away to his chambers where he lay unconscious three days."

"That's enough, Willow," Buffy said coldly, her face drained of color, "Turn it off."

"But there's more," Willow said innocently.

"Turn it off!" Buffy almost shouted, the anger welling up inside her, "Save it! Whatever!"

For a moment, no one in the library moved. Finally Jonathan, his eyes now red and his cheeks glistening, looked back up at Buffy and the others.

"It was just a few months back . . ." he stammered, "But I guess it really was a long time ago . . ."

"Not long enough from what it sounds like," Xander answered as he struggled to find the right words, "You know, Buffy and the rest of us here fight vampires and demons . . . and the occasional bug headed teacher."

Buffy looked at Xander and both smiled sensing this was the right kind of Xander joke for the moment. Then Xander spoke seriously.

". . . but it makes it all worth while," he continued slowly, "When you get to meet . . . one of the Good Guys."

Quickly, Buffy sat down by Jonathan's side. She placed her hands on his shoulders, encouraging him to look over at her.

"This is the New World," she said gently but at the same time trying to pass as much of her Slayer's strength to him as she could, "We try not to look back. That way it doesn't hurt so much."

Buffy wrapped her arms around Jonathan. As she did, she felt his muscled arms trembling in her embrace. He buried his face in her long blonde hair as she held him tighter and whispered in his ear.

"Gimme a hug, Couz," she said softly, "Ya dun good."

As the others gathered around, Xander stood behind Jonathan and patted his hand firmly on Jonathan' shoulder as if to say "Good Man." No one saw any reason to move when the school bell rang the end of sixth period study hall.

* * * * * *

**Chapter 8 - Seize the day**

"You're looking for somewhere to belong,  
You're standing all alone,  
For someone to guide you on you way,  
Now and forever,  
It's a beautiful life . . ."

Dingoes Ate My Baby was as much a fixture at the Bronze as the tables, chairs and the occasional vampire. The band's music, sometimes driving, sometimes lilting, slow and lyrical, could be counted on to either sooth away the teenage hysteria of a particularly brutal day at Sunnydale High, or just blast the memories out the head. Whichever, Dingoes was a Bronze favorite.

Buffy, Jonathan, and Willow sat quietly at a corner table amidst the surging rhythms. On the dance floor, Cordelia and Xander spun wildly, their bodies lurching back and forth, giving spectators a sneak peak of what could only be imagined from beyond the locked doors of the Sunnydale High broom closets. On stage, Oz, gazing impassively out over the sea of swaying heads, ran his fingers effortlessly up and down the neck of his electric guitar. At their table, Jonathan stared, his mouth hanging wide open, at the gyrating bodies.

"Hey," Buffy nudged him, "Close your mouth. You look like a fish."

Jonathan, still gaping, turned to Buffy. Mechanically he snapped his jaws shut so that his teeth clicked out loud. He cast one more glance at the dance floor then just stared off at nothing.

"Yoo hoo?" Willow said, tilting her head sideways and waving her hand in his face.

"Come on, get it together," Buffy poked him again, "You haven't said boo since this afternoon."

"Boo," Jonathan replied quietly.

Buffy scowled and shook her head. On stage, the music of Dingoes ground to a halt.

"Oh, the band's taking a break," Willow exclaimed as she jumped to her feet, "I'm a groupie. I gotta go hang with my squeeze. See ya!" Quickly she shot off past the tables and the surge of bodies leaving the dance floor as she aimed for the band members on stage. In a moment more, she was by Oz's side before he could even slide the guitar strap off his shoulder.

"What the hell did she just say?" Jonathan asked as he stared at the stage then back at Buffy.

"That's better. . . " Buffy replied as she realized that her "Cousin's" emotional funk was finally breaking, "Come on, shake it off! . . .You've gotta stop thinking about the bad stuff."

She reached her hand over and placed it on top of his.

"You did everything you could," she said softly as she rubbed the back of his hand, "Hell, more than anybody could of, even today."

"I know," he sighed as returned her gaze, "But it's never enough."

Okay, Buffy thought, this is the Bronze. Everyone comes her to lose the funky blues, not wallow in them.

"Listen, you gotta get the trip here right," she said firmly, "You and I don't have a choice in what we are or what we have to do. Do you think I went to the guidance counselor and said 'Gee, Slaying sounds like a cool career, hanging out in graveyards and busting blood suckers!'"

Jonathan, listening intently to Buffy, began to grin. Realizing she was now gaining the upper hand, Buffy continued with just enough sarcasm to keep the conversation from getting too heavy.

"And Giles, he really loves spending all his time watching out for demons and Ancient Ones and all that crap. . . ." Suddenly she paused and reconsidered, "Well maybe with Giles he does . . . But you, did you choose to become . . . "

Momentarily at a loss for words, Buffy waved her hand in the air at Jonathan, ". . . whatever you are?"

"No," Jonathan shook his head, "I was being trained before I even remember much of anything else. I can hardly recall my parents, just Telemon."

"None of us, me, Giles or you chose this deal," Buffy said.

Jonathan nodded in agreement. For a second, Buffy was silent as she considered carefully whether she would say the next thing that had come to her mind. In the end, she decided it was important and she really wanted to share it with someone.

"And we've lost a lot," the Slayer said looking down at her hand resting on his on the table top, "For what we've had to do."

"You're right," he nodded again and spoke gently, "Your first love, huh?"

"Yeah," Buffy replied, her voice barely audible, "Who filled you in on the details?"

"You have a good friend in Iskander," Jonathan grinned.

"It's 'Xander,'" Buffy quickly corrected him.

"Right . . ." he smiled and then asked carefully, "What about your Watcher, Giles?"

"I can't even guess what he has been through," Buffy said, shaking her head, "I just know of one. Jenny Calendar."

Again, Buffy hesitated before proceeding. She then threw caution to the wind. She had to know.

"And you?" she asked turning her blue eyes to meet his, "It was your Princess, wasn't it."

Jonathan nodded silently and looked away. She realized that he might not continue so she gently squeezed his hand to draw back his attention.

"None of us knew she had been sired," he finally said as Buffy sensed the lack of emotion in his voice was in reality some kind of deep protective "control" he was using to block out the pain, "I was blind to it for weeks. She turned the Imperial Chancellor and was slowly draining the life out of her father, the emperor Constans."

Buffy listened in rapt attention.

"When I finally realized what had happened and confronted her, she laughed and offered to sire me to 'consummate our union.'"

Buffy shuddered at the thought as Jonathan spoke.

"When I refused and tried to retrieve her lost soul, she and the Chancellor ordered me arrested and set the mob against me. That's when they burned my study."  
  
"Some of us have had it a little rougher than others, I guess," Buffy replied.

"How so?" he asked, looking up at her puzzled.

"I can't imagine what it must have been like . . . trying to help all those children," Buffy said.

"And what about you? " he returned her gaze, "Every night alone . . . fighting the undead. A one woman war protecting this . . . place. It's something I wouldn't want to do."

"Yeah, it does suck . . ." Buffy agreed, "But you almost died!"

"And you didn't?" he answered.

Buffy was silent as her mind suddenly reeled from the flood of distorted memories of her lying lifeless at the feet of the Master.

"Iskander told me," Jonathan said gently, "You _did_ die."

"Yeah . . . but I'm still here!" Buffy quickly responded, her defiance revitalizing her Slayer's strength, "You don't know how many times I've told Giles to take this job and shove it! But I'm still here. And so are you!"

"Sometimes I think that's all that keeps me going," he agreed as he pulled his hand out and now placed it on top of hers.

"That's what keeps us both going," Buffy declared and she could see the impact her powerful declaration was having on the young telekinetic, "Next day the sun's up and there you are! You do what you have to do! 'Cause without you what would've happened?"

"Yeah," he said firmly, "And without you this new world . . ."

"Would be a real creeped out mess!" Buffy completed the sentence with a verbal swagger.

"So that's all you need to keep going, huh?" Jonathan asked, as he finally understood.

"Just be at the party and dance . . . " Buffy smiled a grin that would put Willow's to shame, "Feelin' better?" She squeezed his hand again.

"Yeah," he said humbly, now looking down at their hands on the table once more, "Thanks," he smiled back.

Dingoes slowly reassembled on the stage. A sensuous riff of chords drifted softly from Oz's amplifier. The female lead singer leaned seductively into the microphone as the rhythms of a slow song wafted over the couples assembling on the dance floor.

"Come on, Couz," Buffy said as she clamped her Slayer's grip on Jonathan's wrist, "Time you learned how we boogie in the new world."

"Huh?"

Buffy dragged her confused "Cousin" out onto the dance floor. Firmly she positioned his arms around her waist and she draped her arms over his shoulders.

"But I don't. . ." he sputtered.

" Shh! Just go with the music. Move back and forth."

As Buffy's hips swayed slowly in time, Jonathan quickly matched her rhythm. Under the dim lights, the two danced, each sharing these moments out of time with someone they both never dreamed existed.

*****  
One of the best ways to end an evening at the Bronze was with a drive in Cordelia's red convertible, . . . with the top down . . . and all the Scoobies, Xander, Willow, Oz, Buffy and Jonathan, piled into the back. Oz's amp and guitar kept Cordelia company in the passenger side front bucket seat. Cordelia had complained, not due Xander's refusal to sit next her but because the sharp corners on the amplifier might puncture the seat leather.

Usually Oz just tossed the equipment in his van but tonight the old workhorse was in the shop. Melvin the Mechanic (Sunnydale High 1991) at Sunnydale Auto Body and Detailing said something about the distributor freezing up and having to order the parts because the heap was so old.

Anyway, cruising the streets of downtown Sunnydale on a warm school night, well it didn't get much better than that. Yes, Buffy nodded to herself as she sat on Jonathan's lap, the Cordelia/Xander relationship did have some beneficial side effects.

Being a week night, the action on the streets was light, so Cordelia made the first drop off at Buffy's house.

"You gonna walk me to the door, stranger?" Buffy said cheerily to Jonathan as she jumped over the closed car door.

"Sure thing," he said joining her but exiting by the more conventional method of opening the car door. Together, they walked slowly down the sidewalk that led to the Summer's residence front walk.

"Wild day. I had fun, though," he said as they turned towards her front door, "Thanks for sharing it."

"Yeah, me too," she smiled back as a million thoughts ran through her head.

"This New World of yours, it is 'awesome,'" he said sincerely.

"We think so," she smiled again.

As they reached the front door, Buffy turned to face Jonathan.

"You know," he rattled on, "We have to work out what we are going to do about the Ancient One. If the vampires. . ."

Quickly, Buffy reached up and put her hand over Jonathan's mouth, cutting him off in mid sentence.

"Giles says they can't do anything until tomorrow night," she said, trying to keep him focused on her, "We've got plenty of time. I don't want to deal with it now."

"Okay . . . " he nodded and then said quietly almost to himself, "'Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.'"

Buffy gave him "the look."

"You know the talking weird thing?" she said in a gentle reproach, "It's kinda like the clothes."

"Oh, sorry. Bad habit," he answered a little humbled.

"That's okay."

Suddenly, she leaned up and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Carpe diem," she said quietly as she drew her lips away.

Eyebrows raised, Jonathan looked at her a little surprised but with understanding.

"I got it off a tee shirt," she said apologetically, "It's the only Latin I know."

Suddenly they both realized they were drawing closer to each other.

"Seize the day," Buffy said softly as she felt his arms wrap gently but firmly around her back.

Their lips met. It was not a deep kiss, not a sloppy, groping, raw passion laden exchange. Rather, their lips barely touched, brushing softly back and forth, over and over, each drawing in the other's breath. The effect was electric. Refusing to pull away, Buffy found herself holding on tighter and tighter with each passing second. She and Jonathan stayed wrapped in the embrace, for how long she couldn't tell. When they finally drew back from each other, their blue eyes locked for an instant. Abruptly Buffy turned and ran inside, calling out over her shoulder as she did.

"Good night!"

The front door slammed. Jonathan stood in silence for a few moments. He ran his fingertips across his lips, as he struggled to comprehend the many paths branching off into the future from where he was standing at this moment on the Summers' front steps. Every avenue his mind sought came up blank. Not that the paths were all obscured, just that, for some unknown reason, there was a dark emptiness everywhere he looked.

"Good night, Buffy," he said softly under the porch light.

Jonathan turned to walk back to the car. Deep in thought, he shuffled towards the sidewalk and was barely aware of his surroundings until he came within a few inches of the curb. Suddenly he stared up, seeing the entire Scooby gang had been an audience. They were all smiling, and Willow grinned broadly covering her mouth with her hand.

"Aaww maaaan!" Jonathan howled.

*****

Inside in the front hallway of the Summers house, Buffy leaned with her back to the closed door, shut her eyes and sighed.

"Buffy, is that you?" Joyce Summers' cheery but slightly harried voice sang out from the kitchen.

"Yeah, Mom," Buffy shouted back as she entered the living room and tossed her shoulder bag on the sofa.

Buffy's mother zoomed in and the grilling began immediately.

"Where did you go tonight?"

Although still confused, Buffy felt the constant teenager/Slayer need to conceal everything receding in the face of what she had just experienced.

"We hung out at the Library, then went to the Bronze. Same old, same old. No big deal."

"Who were you with?" Joyce asked, trying not to press too hard, "Willow and Xander? And who else?"

"Mom!" Buffy exclaimed.

"You don't tell me anything, so I have to ask. . . ." Joyce said, still trying to keep things light as she delved into what she knew was going to be forbidden territory, "Who was that boy that walked you to the door?"

"His name is Jonathan Martel," Buffy offered to her own surprise, and the half fib came out perfectly. "He's an exchange student staying with Giles."

"Wow, a name," Joyce marveled, "That's a first. He's older than you, isn't he?"

"Mom!"

"Buffy, after all that trouble with Angel . . ."

"Jonathan is nothing like Angel," Buffy was surprised again, this time with her vehement defense of the young telekinetic.

Joyce paused before she spoke again as she studied the unexpected smile on her daughter's face. She had never gotten this far discussing anything with Buffy and she wanted so much to share the new experiences with her.

"You like him, don't you," Joyce said gently.

Buffy thought for a moment, partly to decide whether she should break the teenage code of silence and partly to try and sort out her own feelings.

"Yeah," she finally confessed, "I think I do. Mom, I promise I'll introduce you next time he comes over. . . Oh, could you get me up early? I have some stuff to do at the library."

"Now I know something's wrong!" Joyce smiled as she put her hands on her hips, "You're either sick or in love   
. . . and it better be the first!"

"Good night, Mom!" Buffy announced as she turned to leave the room.

"Good night," Joyce said lovingly.

Buffy bounded up the stairs to her bedroom leaving Joyce Summers standing alone in the living room in the company of her ever present worries.

*****

At Giles' apartment, Jonathan sat uncomfortably on the sofa where he would be spending a second night. His arms and legs felt weak and his hands trembly but he just chalked it up to the events of the last twenty-four hours. Coming back into the material world after four hundred years would tend to take a little out of someone, he thought glibly. Giles puttered about, tidying up and stashing away an armful of books in his floor to ceiling bookshelf.

"Well, I guess I'll be turning in," the Watcher announced as he shoved the last volume into a lower shelf, "If you need anything just help yourself."

"Thanks," Jonathan replied, "I'll probably call it a day, too. I'm really tired."

"Good night," Giles called out as he climbed the stairs to the bedroom.

Jonathan sat alone thinking about the last few hours and about Buffy in particular. Suddenly, he realized the shaking in his hands was increasing, escalating into an outright tremor. Then he winced as an unexpected pain shot through his insides. Just as quickly, it faded. Bewildered at first, he shook his head attempting to clear his thoughts. Then the pain struck a second time, hard and more debilitating, and immediately he understood what was happening.

He held up both hands which were now shaking uncontrollably. As he stared at them, the substance of the skin started to turn translucent and tiny particles of what appeared to be dust fell from the fingertips.

". . . no . . . no . . . not yet!" he whispered in desperation to the empty room, "Please not yet!"

At the same time, Buffy was just drifting off to sleep in her bed. Suddenly she began tossing, thrashing about under the influence of a restless nightmare. In it she held Jonathan in her arms as she had on the front porch. She pressed her lips to his as he ran his hands through her hair. But now, all of a sudden his body was fading away. Darkness swept in closer as he opened his mouth to speak, almost as if he were bidding her farewell, but there was no sound. Buffy gripped him tightly, struggling to hold him back, to keep him with her if only for a few seconds more but in an instant her arms were empty.

In the apartment, Giles reappeared at the head of the stairs and wandered down, puzzling over something.

"Oh, you know I forgot to tell you that . . ." he said as he paused halfway. Immediately he spied Jonathan in distress.

"Oh God!" he shouted as he took three steps at a time and raced across the living room to the sofa. "What's happening?! What's wrong?"

"The spell . . . " Jonathan stammered, struggling to speak as his face turned ashen, "It's collapsing!" In that instant, Giles knew the situation was desperate.

In her bedroom, Buffy's sleep became more disturbed as she tossed again and again. Suddenly she sprang awake, her eyes wide with fear. In her gut, she knew something was terribly wrong. The image in her dream told her one thing. She threw aside her comforter, grabbed the portable phone off the bedside table and hit the speed dial.

Giles now knelt by Jonathan's side.

"What can I do?!" he asked frantically.

Jonathan grabbed the Watcher by the hand. Giles thought he could feel the grip disintegrating.

"Hermes Trismegistos!" Jonathan begged. "Do you have a copy of Hermes Trismegistos?!"

"The Dialecticon!" Giles exclaimed, recognizing the ancient alchemist's study on spell reinforcement. Before Jonathan could speak again, Giles was on his feet, zeroing in on one section of the bookshelf. He immediately snatched out a small black volume.

"Book twenty-three, verse seventeen!" Jonathan called out, his voice weakening.

Giles spun the pages effortlessly to the needed section and held the book open in front of Jonathan so he could read.

Quickly, Jonathan began speaking the strengthening spell inaudibly to himself. The words of the incantation on the pages droned with a desperate intensity as if pleading with the forces of time and nature. Shortly, the spell began to work, as Jonathan's hands become solid again and he ceased trembling. Exhausted, he collapsed full out on the sofa.

"Are you going to be all right," Giles asked, relieved as he closed the small volume.

"That was close," Jonathan muttered, "The power in the spell that's holding me here, it's slowly dispersing."

"Is there anything I can do?" Giles hovered over the sofa as if standing guard.

"I have to rest right now," Jonathan said in a whisper.

"Tomorrow," Giles spoke calmly trying to reassure the young telekinetic, "I'll do some research tomorrow. We'll find a way."

Jonathan nodded and closed his eyes.

Suddenly the old rotary dial phone in the apartment rang, the clatter piercing the silence. Giles picked up to answer.

"Giles?!" Buffy's voice called out urgently from the receiver.

"Yes, oh, Buffy, hello," her Watcher replied, nervously studying Jonathan for guidance.

"Are you guys okay?" Buffy asked as she brushed a long strand of her hair out of her face. Giles could sense the concern in her voice and realized it was from more than just friendship.

"Are we all right?" he stuttered, stalling for time. He looked over at Jonathan who nodded in the affirmative.

"Why yes, of course," he lied over the phone.

"Is Jonathan okay?" she asked, desperately seeking reassurance.

"Jonathan, yes, I think so," Giles glanced at Jonathan again, who signaled that he didn't want to talk to Buffy.

"He's asleep right now," Giles fibbed again, "Is anything the matter?"

"No, . . . I guess not," Buffy replied, discouraged, "I had one of those creepy dreams, the kind that seem like they're real. Jonathan was gone. I think he was dead."

"Oh my," Giles struggled to conceal what he really wanted to say, "Well, it was just a dream. I'll tell him you called, and we'll see you in the morning."

"Yeah, Good night." Buffy hung up the phone slowly. She stared down at her lap as she sat on the edge of the bed and suddenly realized her cheeks were wet. Slowly she curled up again under her comforter and squeezed the pillow tightly.

At the apartment, a worried Giles stared over at Jonathan who now was immobile from exhaustion on the sofa.

* * * * * * * 


	3. Part 3, chapters 9 and 10

CARPE DIEM - Part 3

_by  
Gaius Petronius_

Chapter 9 - " . . . maybe only an hour or a week . . ." 

DISCLAIMER:  
All the characters of BtVS belong to Joss Whedon, Fox and Mutant Enemy and not me. I only borrow them, mess with their heads, make them cry and, once in a while, torture them. The Ancient One is loosely derived from the Cthulhu Mythos stories of the classic 20th century horror writer, H. P. Lovecraft. 

Spoilers and Synopsis:  
Originally written as a script in mid season 2 (Jan - March 1998) just after Angel lost his soul. Willow accidently reanimates an eighteen year old telekinetic from the seventeenth century, Johannes Martel who may hold the secred to restoring a vampire's lost soul.

A Note On the Text:  
The plot for the original script version of Carpe Diem was drafted in mid season two before Angel's age and the relationship with Dru and Spike were fully developed. The dating in this story and their backgrounds, as a result, are a departure from BtVS canon.   


Rating: PG-13 for some violence, language and a racy scene.

* * * * * *

So here she was again. Willow realized she was spending a lot of time over the past few mornings on the steps of Sunnydale High pondering the start of each new day and once more, today seemed no different. The crowds of students, the lines of cars, the muttered conversations about homework assignments not completed, who was going out with whom and who was actually doing "it." Maybe another Sunnydale student disappeared in some particularly gruesome fashion last night as well on his or her way home from the Bronze.

Same ol', same ol' as everyone always said. But just like yesterday, Willow realized this morning was also different. Twenty-four hours ago there was a "new" Scooby. This morning there might be a new relationship. All the signs from last night pointed that way.

As if drawn by some sympathetic telepathy absorbed from their new telekinetic member, the Scooby Gang, Willow, Xander, Oz and Cordelia (although she always disavowed membership) met together on the front steps in an informal "Relationship Conference." Everyone saw what happened last night between Buffy and Jonathan. This morning they all assembled to swoop down on the Slayer and extract every drop of information they could squeeze out of her. Buffy Summers, Slayer, destroyer of the Master, the Judge and numerous other entities, and demons, was no match for the interrogation she was about to undergo from the excited and ruthless Scoobies.

"Now don't everybody make fun of Buffy when she gets here," Willow said over her shoulder, her remarks directed particularly at Xander.

"Why not?" her childhood bud exclaimed, relishing the thought of extorting each minute detail from last night's encounter on the front porch, "It isn't everyday you can tease a Slayer and not get punched out!"

"And what makes you think you won't get punched out?" Cordelia announced with worldly wisdom.

"Good point," Xander agreed, his mind searching for various means of prying information out of Buffy, "But I just have to make sure this guy is okay for Buffy."

"The Xander seal of approval," Oz nodded sagely, oblivious to the crowds of students surging by.

"Right. Remember," Xander countered, "I was the only one who said Angel was bad news."

Cordelia rolled her eyes in response to her boyfriend's ballooning ego.

"How could we ever forget!" she exclaimed.

"For Johno, I'll make an exception," Xander continued, "Big guy like him with milk running out his nose, that's cool!" Cordelia almost uttered her favorite vocabulary word again as Xander revisited the image of yesterday's ill fated lunch hour.

"Uh oh, here she comes," Willow said, spying the Summers' SUV, "Now everybody shut up and don't embarrass her!"

Joyce Summers maneuvered the hulking vehicle up to the curb. Immediately Buffy hopped out into the brilliant southern California morning sunshine. She smiled as she headed for the collected Scoobies and there was a bounce in her step.

"Bye, Mom!" she called out not looking back.

Now she broke into a run up the steps of Sunnydale High.

"Oh my God, she's smiling," Xander announced with mock concern just before Buffy got within earshot, "This is serious."

"Hi gang, what's up? . . ." Buffy stopped and stared at her friends. Every one was grinning. Finally Willow couldn't control herself any longer and giggled.

"What!? Were you guys spying on us last night?!"

"Oh no," Xander chuckled, "Our binoculars just happened to turn to your front door. The tracking system is activated by steam!"

"Oh, Buffy, he's so nice," Willow said warmly, "And you're smiling."

"Yeah, that is slightly different these days," Cordelia agreed with rare sincerity.

"This is just like a fairy tale, all cute and perfect," Xander nodded as he waved his hand at each of his friends, "Willow has Oz, her wolfman."

"Grrrrr," Oz growled quietly as his arm magically appeared across Willow's shoulder in a protective embrace.

"Down, Rover," Xander quipped as he turned to Buffy, "Now Smiley here has her wizard."

"Watch your mouth or he'll turn you into a toad!" Buffy waggled her finger back as if casting a spell.

"I wish he would!" Cordelia responded almost seriously, "Definitely an improvement over the frog he already is."

The good feelings on the relationship front was such a rare event over the past weeks that Willow got carried away.

"And Xander has . . . Cordelia," she announced but suddenly shriveled in embarrassment, "Uh, I'm sorry. I just meant that we all had . . ."

"That's okay, Sears Girl," Cordelia said rising to the occasion and giving Xander a seductive gaze as she ever so slightly thrust her chest out, "I can cast spells with the best of them!"

". . . Uhh. . . ." Xander stuttered as his eyes froze on the most prominent part of Cordelia's anatomy.

"Where's Jonathan?" Buffy asked a little nervously as she glanced around the steps.

"In the library," Willow said, "He and Giles got here early."

"Okay, see ya," Buffy announced, reassured and bounded up the steps through the front door, heading for the library.

* * * * *

In the library at a table up behind the stacks, Jonathan sat pouring over books piled up all around him.

"Any luck?" Giles asked as he approached the table. Under his arm he clutched several more worn volumes.

"No," the telekinetic responded despondently, "Just the same passages requoted by a different author."

"Any more . . ." Giles paused for a moment, " . . . episodes . . . since last night?"

"No," Jonathan slapped the book in front of him shut and leaned back in the chair. He rubbed his hands across his face as if the action could somehow massage more energy into his exhausted features, "That new spell seems to have arrested the draining of energy . . . or whatever is happening."

At the same time, Buffy came bouncing in through the library doors. She stopped before the check out desk at the sound of Giles and Jonathan who didn't realize she was in the room. Her stomach tightened up as she listened, picking up the disturbing tone in their voices.

"How long do you think you have before the spell collapses again?" Giles asked.

"No way to tell," Jonathan replied shaking his head, "Could be an hour, a week, a month. I could drop and turn to dust right now."

The smile vanished from Buffy's face. She felt her insides leap at his words as if she had suddenly gone over a quick bump in the road in Cordelia's speeding convertible. Buffy wanted to speak, to cry out. She almost broke in on the conversation, but held back, listening.

"What about putting down the Ancient One tonight?" Giles continued, his voice laced with concern.

"What about it?" Jonathan, his face now etched with lines in the subdued library lighting, looked up at the Watcher, "I don't have much choice, do I."

"No, I suppose not," Giles agreed.

"Thank God Buffy's going to be there," Jonathan sighed and Buffy drank in all the emotions concealed in his words, "I couldn't pull this off without her. I don't think I could deal with any . . . of this," his voice trailed off as he waved a hand at the prison like walls and stacks around him.

"We all tend to rely on her a lot," Giles said, realizing he had just won the Sunnydale Understatement of the Year Award.

"Shouldn't be bad, though," Jonathan muttered as his ran his hand across his high forehead, "If there are only three vampires that are a real threat, we'll be okay. As long as we can target them before they complete the raising."

"Don't underestimate these three," Giles warned, "They destroyed the Anointed One. The one Buffy was involved with, Angel, is particularly malevolent."

The name cut through the library like the swishing fall of a guillotine blade. Jonathan stared in shock up at Giles.

"Angel? . . .Angelus?!" he stammered having heard the name now for the first time in the New World.

Buffy suppressed a gasp as she listened.

"Yes," Giles answered in surprise, "You've heard of him?"

Buffy's eyes widened with horror as Jonathan spoke. She felt her world crumbling and outside she knew night had arrived despite the morning sun.

"Angelus, The Fiend?" Jonathan snarled, "Angelus, the Butcher? He harvested my fiance, the Princess Drusilla!"

"Drusilla . . . oh God, no. . ." Giles sat down as if his legs had suddenly given out beneath him.

"What?" Jonathan asked in surprise at the Watcher's reaction.

"It must be the same one," Giles muttered with mounting horror as he faced Jonathan, "She's here with him . . .with Angel and a third, Spike . . . William the Bloody. They're the ones we're up against."

"Angelus is the one Buffy wants . . .?" Jonathan exclaimed, trying in his mind to deny what his senses had just heard.

Buffy couldn't hold back any longer. She had to rush in, to stop the last two days from disintegrating, and especially salvage something from last night.

"Jonathan, no!" she shouted pleading with him, "Let me explain!"

"You want me to restore . . . Angelus?!" he almost cursed her.

"Jonathan, please!"

"You love Angelus?!" he shook his head in disbelief now not caring whether the spell keeping him there collapsed or not.

"No! . . . " she suddenly exclaimed, her blue eyes locking on his and silently screaming things he instantly understood.

"I love you!" Buffy blurted out.

There was an instant of silence. Realizing what she had said, Buffy turned and ran wildly from the library. Jonathan stood astonished for a moment. Trembling, he called out after her.

"No! Buffy, wait!"

The door to the library slammed shut before he could finish the three words. She was gone. In a fury, Jonathan slammed his fist on the library table. The loud bang was quickly followed by a howl of pain and a torrent of profanity in several different languages as Jonathan swayed back and forth clutching his sore hand. Giles' face turned bright red.

Suddenly Jonathan rose and was about to go after Buffy, but Giles caught him by the arm and restrained him.

"You better stay," the Watcher said gently, "If it were anyone else, I'd say go, but Buffy, . . . when she's upset, she tends to be . . . volatile. She'll be back."

Jonathan dropped into the chair and, leaning over the desk amidst the now useless books, buried his face in hands.

As Willow and Xander were heading to class, Buffy flew by them down the school hallway.

"Buffy?" Willow called after the disappearing form of her friend.

"Oh shit," Xander said seriously, "Did you see her face!"

"Oh no . . ." Willow moaned and she felt the moisture welling up in her eyes. All the laughter and fun of just a few minutes ago on the front steps were vanishing. It wasn't fair. They had had it for only just a few minutes and already it was being snatched away.

"I pity any furniture that gets in her way right now," Xander said.

Buffy swept into the empty girls' locker room. In a fury, she hurled a small chair across the tiled floor. It skidded and smashed against the wall. Quickly she turned and punched several locker doors over and over. The pain was nothing. She was used to it by now. It took a lot for her to feel it.

Suddenly she stopped, contemplating her bruised fists and sat down on a wooden bench where students changed before and after gym class.

"Damn you, Angel!" she cursed quietly as she nursed her sore hands, "Damn you!"

* * * * *

By noon, Giles was preparing to abandon his post at the check out desk for lunch. Since tea time was not a universally recognized custom in the Colonies, Giles had reprogrammed his life style to orient himself around lunch. Lunch was now sacred.

Jonathan remained seated at the table up the stairs behind the stacks. He hadn't moved for several hours, the pile of books scattered around him all untouched.

"I'm going out to get some lunch," Giles called from the library main floor, "You want anything?"

There was no response. Giles shrugged his shoulders and started for the door when Buffy suddenly burst in and pushed her way past him.

"Oh, Buffy," Giles exclaimed, silently praying that there would be some kind of resolution to the morning's tension by the time he returned from lunch. Knowing the complexity of his Slayer's relationships, he thought it highly unlikely however.

"Where is he?" Buffy snapped as she glanced around.

"Up there," Giles nodded towards the upper landing beyond the stacks.

Buffy glared at Giles.

"Well," he stuttered as he wilted under her silent command to buzz off, "I'll be back in about an hour."

Giles quickly turned and left, relieved to be out of range of the emotional fireworks he realized would follow shortly. As the library door slapped shut, Buffy walked slowly up the stairs to the table where Jonathan sat. At first, neither looked directly at the other. There was an embarrassing silence.

"Hi," she finally said uneasily.

"Hi," he replied, not wanting to look at her but unable to keep his face averted.

"I guess we gotta talk."

"How much did you hear this morning?" he asked, afraid of what she was about to say.

"Does it matter?" she answered and suddenly realized holding back was going to get her nowhere. There was another awkward pause.

"I'll go first," she said firmly, straightening up and folding her arms across her chest, "I'm not going to apologize for what went on between me and Angel."

"You're not going to apologize for anything," he immediately replied shaking his head.

Buffy's mouth dropped open in surprise.

"None of this is your fault," he continued as she stared at him.

"But Jonathan, you've got to understand. . ." but she couldn't get the sentence out as he interrupted her.

"No! Buffy, this is your world, not mine! I have no business screwing it up," he paused and sadly looked down at his bruised hand on the table, "I have no right hurting you . . . or judging what went on between you and Angelus."

"Jonathan!" she tried to contradict him, to sooth the pain she saw spreading across his face but he wouldn't let her. He looked back up at her and she couldn't turn away from his blue eyes.

"I should have died four hundred years ago," he almost whispered, "I don't even belong here."

That was it. Now she was mad. She was not going to let this happen, not again. She wasn't letting go without a fight.

"Yes you do!" she almost shouted back at him, "If this is my world, then I call the shots and you're staying!"

"That might not be enough. With all the spells I know, I can't erase what I said!" he apologized, "I can't take it back!"

"Then don't," she said drawing on her Slayer's strength and for once finding the words she so desperately wanted to say, "It's what you feel. I'll have to accept that . . . But we can go on from here."

Buffy looked him directly in the eyes, and again they silently shared a whirl of emotions.

"I'm not taking anything back I said either," she said slowly and firmly.

Buffy sat down next to Jonathan. Reaching out as she had at the Bronze, she took his hands in hers. Spotting the bruise, she softly ran her fingers over it, caressing the injured flesh.

"I heard everything you and Giles were talking about and we can beat this. Just let me help." He returned her grip as she felt the fading energy spreading from his fingertips into the muscles of her palms and wrists.

"Buffy, the energy in the spell that keeps me here . . . " he tried to explain," Well, it's like the water from a spring. If I draw too much, it'll run dry."

Buffy took a deep breath and leaned forward as she had on the front porch. She placed her face against his, kissing him softly on the cheek.

"I'm a Slayer. Take it from me," she murmured as she strengthened her grip on his hands. For a moment he could sense her Slayer's strength, her life force, a tremendous warmth and power surging back at him, freely, unconditionally, through their joined hands. His heart soared for a second, but then crashed immediately.

"No!" he exclaimed as he pulled away from her. He broke their grip together and held her shoulders between his hands. "You can't do that! This is a curse that's allowed me to cheat the dust for four hundred years, not a blessing! It's a rupture in the natural order, just like Angelus and Drusilla. I can't let you . . . I won't let you share my fate!"

"What fate?" Buffy asked fearfully, "You see something . . . what is it?"

He wouldn't answer her. Instead suddenly, Jonathan had Buffy in his arms. He drew her in tightly against him, holding her as if she were the anchor that would keep his body and soul from scattering like dust blown away in the wind.

"Believe me," he said as he buried his face in her long flowing hair, "I want more than anything to stay here, . . . with you . . .in this 'awesome' new world."

Buffy brought her face up against the skin of his cheek and gently rubbed back and forth.

"Then let's seize the day," she whispered, her lips now almost against his, "Carpe diem and all that. Maybe only an hour or a week . . . maybe a month, . . . might be a year. But stay with me."

Their embrace tightened as Buffy felt his hands running through her hair and she spread her arms across his back. Their lips now met and exchanged the same passion as had their eyes only moments before.

The door to the library suddenly slapped open as Giles barged back in.

"Jonathan, I forgot to get the Wessex text," he babbled, fussing among a pile of books and documents on the check out desk, "Did I leave it . . ."

Giles heard soft sounds emanating from behind the stacks on the upper landing. Instantly he spotted Buffy and Jonathan in each others arms.

"Oh, sorry," the Watcher called out as he scurried out the door once more. He halted at the hallway entrance to the library.

"My, that was quick," he muttered as he scratched his head.

Before he turned to leave, Giles stopped as he had an incredibly un-Giles like thought. Or at least one he wouldn't have had since his student days at Cambridge. He reached into his pocket and brought out his jingling key chain.

At that point, the Watcher's training almost overwhelmed him. This was ridiculous, he thought. Slayers had to concentrate. Slayers couldn't be distracted by feelings, social lives and physical attractions, otherwise it could spell their own doom as well as the destruction of those who depended on them. This was what he had always been taught by the Council. It was basic, fundamental.

And as for Jonathan, here was an extremely dangerous individual, an unpredictable youth with all the strength of a full blown telekinetic who still had no idea who or what he was and the range of the powers he wielded. Together, the two could be a disastrous combination.

Giles still didn't move from the library door in the hallway.

Or together, he mused, they could be something else, something entirely new, an incredible combined force for good against the shadows of evil circling in around them. Giles smiled slightly as he experienced a warm sensation that Willow would have told him all the Scoobies were familiar with from the front steps of Sunnydale High that morning. The Watcher's smile grew as he selected one specific key from his key chain.

"Rupert, old man," he said out loud, "I hope you're not going to regret this."

Slipping the key into the lock on the library door, Giles turned it so that the tumblers dropped into the locked position. He quickly pocketed the key, turned in the hallway and, not looking back, left the school building for the afternoon.

*****

**Chapter 10 - Promises**

The atmosphere was turning festive as evening fell at the warehouse lair of Drusilla, Spike and Angelus. The three vampires had spent the afternoon clearing out a massive basement storage chamber near the lower level loading dock under the dilapidated old building. A make shift altar now stood at the top of a series of elevated steps at the far corner of the chamber. Centered prominently in the middle of the sacred table sat the Command Stone which was beginning to glow with an eerie pulsating light. Overhead dozens of brightly colored streamers stretched from the dark cobweb encrusted beams.

From his wheelchair at the base of the steps, Spike studied the arrangement of the altar with satisfaction. He also approved of the lithe form of Drusilla next to it. Seductively, she fondled a miniature crossbow and several small but lethal looking darts.

"Nice party favors, love," he grinned, "What are we playing, pin the dart in the Slayer?"

Drusilla didn't answer but only cooed, her fingers running eagerly across the dart points as she tested their sharpness. Every few seconds she squealed with glee as a point nicked her skin drawing blood.

Angelus entered the chamber from a steep metal staircase at the far wall. He puffed himself up about to make an announcement regarding the evening's plans when Spike interrupted him.

"Angelus, you forgot the party hats."

Angelus growled in return.

"How many are coming?" Drusilla asked as her eyes dreamily surveyed the glowing Command Stone.

"I've issued a general summoning of our brothers and sisters," he answered as he glared furiously at Spike, "They'll be here shortly."

"Excellent!" she sighed, the hissing sound of her voice arousing Spike. "Lots and lots of party guests!"

"But what's with the toy, love? " Spike asked nodding towards the crossbow, "That's not going to do much good against a wizard."

"A special party game. If my dear fiance survives our 'pet,'" here Drusilla swooped back and forth around the Command Stone, "Then I'll shoot one of his friends! He'll use the last of his energy reviving the miserable creature and then 'poof,' his spell collapses!"

"Clever," Spike nodded with approval.

"Angelus, dear, will you deliver the invitations to our 'special' guests now?" Drusilla pouted.

Angelus wanted desperately to complain about being the errand boy. He also seethed at Spike smirking in his wheelchair.

"And don't forget to be clear on time and place," Drusilla scolded, sensing his reticence. "And regarding RSVP's, I simply won't accept 'no' for an answer."

Angelus sighed as he turned and left the chamber the way he had come.

"Oh, Dru, this BYOB?" Spike asked.

"Of course," she grinned as her face morphed.

* * * * *

Willow was surprised. It was sixth period study hall, the library was locked and Giles was nowhere to be found. Neither were Buffy and Jonathan for that matter. For a moment she thought she heard quiet sounds coming from behind the locked doors but on listening carefully everything seemed silent. She shrugged her shoulders as she headed off to the computer lab to do some recreational net cruising.

By the close of sixth period, Willow was on her way back to the library when she stumbled into Giles in the hallway.

"Where've you been?" she asked almost accusingly, "The library's been locked all afternoon."

"Uh, I had a reference to check at the city library," Giles stuttered, and Willow could tell immediately that he was fibbing.

"Where's Jonathan? . . . and Buffy?" Willow pressed as they reached the library.

". . . Haven't seen them," Giles lied again as he fumbled for his keys.

Willow grabbed the handle before the Watcher could select the proper key. Giles abruptly pushed Willow's hand off the door.

"Knock, Knock!" he called out overly loudly as Willow stared at him.

"Giles?" Willow asked, wondering whether he had gotten into his "secret cabinet" where she knew he stashed his single malt scotch.

At the same time, Giles jingled his keys noisily with an extravagant wave of his hand.

"Let Me See! Where Is That Key Now?!" he announced in an exaggerated voice as if he were arguing a bill before a rowdy session of Parliament.

Giles! What the hell are you doing?" Willow exclaimed.

"Ah Hah!" he shouted, "Here . . . It . . . Is!"

He jammed the key into the lock, deliberately turning the handle with a loud clatter.

"We're Coming In Now!" he shouted as Willow stared at him dumbfounded.

As she and Giles stepped into the library, both halted in surprise. Buffy sat nestled in Jonathan's lap. The teenagers were squeezed into a chair before one of the research tables on the lower level. Their clothes were disheveled as if they had been carelessly put back on, numerous buttons were undone and both were barefoot. Two pairs of shoes tossed wildly about were visible at the top of the stairs leading to the upper landing. Buffy's head was draped across Jonathan's shoulder and her long blonde hair unceremoniously spilled across his still open shirt. He gently stroked her bare arm which was wrapped about his open waist.

"Oops!" Willow gasped.

Looking up, Buffy's eyes bulged with embarrassment. She quickly jumped out of Jonathan's lap and scooped up an armful of books as if she were about to refile them. In a poorly concealed panic, she dashed back and forth between book shelves, shoving the volumes into any place they would fit. At the same time, she struggled to tuck in her trailing white blouse.

"Hi Will! Hi Giles!" she called out over her shoulder as she forced a book into one shelf causing two others to pop out the back of the bookcase and plop onto the floor.

Giles turned the color of Harvard beets and disappeared into his office. Willow thought she heard behind the closed door a cabinet compartment squeak open, the clinking of a bottle mouth on a small glass and the splash of liquid.

"Where were you guys?" Buffy called out as she floundered with the armful of books. She still would look at Willow .

Willow glanced over at Jonathan who smiled sheepishly and raised his hands in an apologetic gesture as he began buttoning up his shirt.

"Buffy," Willow said quietly.

"I thought you'd be here for sixth period study hall," Buffy babbled as another book slipped out of her arms.

"Buffy," Willow said more insistently.

Buffy stopped.

"Yeah?" the Slayer asked nervously.

Willow's eyes dropped to indicate Buffy's bare feet.

Buffy glanced down and then over to Jonathan.

"What happened to our shoes?"

Jonathan grinned and thumbed towards the top of the second level landing.

"Oh . . ." the Slayer replied awkwardly. She looked down at her feet one more time and then back up at Willow.

"Busted?" she asked.

Willow nodded and she couldn't help it. She broke into a smile, the kind that spread from ear to ear and could crack a soul of granite. At the same time, Willow felt the warmth again, the feeling from the front steps of that morning. It was back and she relished it. It still belonged to the Scoobies. The bastards didn't get it after all.

Things had settled down by the time the entire Scooby Gang reassembled in the library that evening. The phone pool had been put into play since no one knew the outcome of the evening's "activities."

The main order of business was to plan the search for the raising site of the Ancient One. Giles, Jonathan, Buffy, Xander, Willow, and Oz gathered around the library's central reading table. Cordelia had skipped out of cheerleading practice and hovered around behind Xander.

Every now and then Willow cast a glance over at Buffy and Jonathan. She knew it was all different now. Out of the corner of her eye, Willow caught Jonathan slipping his hand around Buffy's waist or Buffy sliding her fingers into the back pocket of Jonathan's jeans. Willow observed the two were never more than a few inches apart.

"But I don't get it," Buffy exclaimed to Giles, "Why are the vampires raising up an Ancient One if it's going to vaporize them along with everything else?"

"That's what's got me," Jonathan backed her up, "Drusilla can't control an Ancient One any more than you or I can. There's got to be more to this than we're seeing."

"It's obvious. . . ." Xander announced as he leaned back in his chair and folded his arms around the back of his neck, "It's a trap."

"How do you figure that?" Giles asked skeptically. He had little faith in Xander's track record with logic.

"They may be vampires, Giles, but they don't have a death wish," Xander answered with perfect Yogi Berra thinking.

Willow couldn't resist.

"Well, duh! They already are!"

"Oh yeah," Xander floundered momentarily but instantly regained his stride, "Well, anyway. They want Johno to put the Ancient One down. So they're luring us there for another reason. They're out to get someone."

"But who? And why?" Willow asked, fascinated to discover Xander's line of reasoning.

"The who is pretty easy," Xander said as he began identifying everyone sitting around the table, "It can't be me or Cordy. And Willow, sorry girl, you don't rate, either."

"Aw, shucks," Willow replied putting on her best hayseed accent. Xander quickly draped his arm over Oz's shoulder.

"Oz, our own Larry Talbot here's a little too kinky."

"I bite back!" Oz said, barely smiling and lifting Xander's arm off his shoulder.

"Then there's Giles," Xander announced with a flourish, "Who might be fun to torture, but they already know most of what you know. Sorry, G-man."

"I feel somehow slighted!" the Watcher replied as he fussed with his glasses.

"Which leaves Buffy and Cousin Johno," Xander said a little ominously as he turned to face the pair, "Now Angel'd cash in his account at the local blood bank to finish the Buffster off. But that raid the other night, from what I'm hearing, Drusilla is running this one. And who's the only person that absolutely has to be at this party for it to fly?"

No one spoke for a moment as the Xander logic sank in.

"That's you, Johno," he finally said, pointing at Jonathan.

"You're quite the strategist, Iskander," Jonathan nodded, "I see why you're named after Alexander the Great."

"It's 'Xander., big guy," Xander corrected him as the reference went right over his head, "And it looks like your ex, your 'Princess Drusilla,' has got it out for you big time!"

Jonathan stood and began pacing, disturbed by Xander's analysis.

Cordelia shook her head.

"Drusilla? A princess?" she said in amazement, "She's the one that's like, loony? This is completely nuts!"

Relishing the points he had scored, Xander opened his mouth to speak again. Buffy could see the mistake coming. She wanted to tell Xander to shut up before he even said anything but was too late.

"Yeah," Xander marveled, "If you two had gotten hitched, you a Prince and all and Miss Princess Drusilla who's admittedly not the sharpest crayon in the box, well that would have made you, like . . . an Emperor! You could have done any damn thing you wanted!"

It was the way Xander said it, the last words especially, dripping with sarcasm and at the same time taunting. Buffy's mouth dropped open.

Jonathan, his face creased with hurt and anger, glared at Xander. The young telekinetic spun on his heels and stormed out of the library.

"Jonathan!" Buffy shouted as she jumped to her feet, "Xander, you idiot!" she spat out over her shoulder as she ran after him.

"Touchy!" Xander exclaimed, raising his hands as he saw Willow's glare, "Whadd I say?"

"Sometimes that troll in your brain forgets where the 'on-off' button is!" Cordelia snapped as she smacked him across the top of his head.

"OW!"

"Yep," Willow nodded to Cordelia, "He'll be a toad by the end of the week."

*****  
  
Moving in from across the street, Angelus stealthily approached the partially lit high school building. He slipped carefully between walls and shrubs staying concealed from the glaring overhead street lights. Finally he paused and hid in the shadows near the stairs of the school front entrance just in time to see Jonathan storm out the front door and sit dejectedly on the bottom step.

In the darkened hallway inside, Buffy glanced back and forth, searching for Jonathan. The metallic click of the front door snapping shut echoed among the lockers and linoleum. She turned and knew immediately that he had headed out into the night. The Slayer burst through the front entrance and quickly surveyed the darkness hanging over the concrete steps.

Instantly she spotted Jonathan, sitting alone. He was staring up at the moonless sky filled with stars. Slowly Buffy descended the stairs. As she sat down beside him she wrapped her arm around his waist and kissed him softly on the cheek.

"You okay?" she asked gently as she rubbed her face against his.

"Yeah, just a little ticked off," he replied as he ran his fingers through her long hair. He tipped his head forward so they met forehead to forehead and sighed.

"You're still thinking about her," Buffy said her heart sinking, "The Princess, . . . you can't let her go, can you."

"That's not true," he answered looking her straight in the eyes, "Buffy, she's gone. The woman I knew, the Crown Princess Drusilla of the Holy Roman Empire died four hundred years ago. I tried to bring her back, to find her soul once . . . I never will again." He hung his head.

Buffy wrapped her arms around Jonathan drawing him tightly against her. She trembled slightly.

"You cold?" he asked her.

"No," she answered almost in a whisper, "I'm . . . I'm afraid." She couldn't believe she said it. But then she couldn't believe she had said so many things to him during that afternoon in the library.

"It's okay," he said firmly so there could be no question in her mind, "I won't let the Ancient One hurt you. I'll use every power I have. I can even draw on natural forces and concentrate them so that . . ."

Buffy reached out and gently put her hand over his mouth, interrupting him in mid sentence.

"That's not why I'm afraid," Buffy said looking down.

"Why?"

Buffy stared back up and one more time their blue eyes met.

"I'm afraid this is the last time we'll be together like this."

"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Jonathan announced, straightening up with mock indignation.

"How're you holding out? The spell I mean." Buffy asked nervously.

"Okay. Holding," he said trying to exude confidence but he could tell Buffy wasn't buying the front. In the dim light, he realized her eyes were starting to glisten.

"It's like you're dying . . . !" she suddenly shouted at him in frustration, "Right in front of me . . . and I can't do anything!"

"I'm not dying. I just have a better handle on the future," he quipped, trying to be flippant like Xander but he knew immediately it was totally the wrong thing to say.

Buffy scowled at him and bit her lip.

"I'm sorry. Buffy," Jonathan said searching for the right words to reassure her. "I'm not afraid. Well actually I am but I'm not."

Puzzled, Buffy stared at him.

"I know this doesn't help but the way I see it, everything in life is constant change," he tried to explain, "Who's to say that death should be anything different?"

"Try telling that to Giles about Ms. Calendar," Buffy said letting the despair begin to overwhelm her.

"Buffy, I don't know any easy way to explain this," Jonathan said gently as he held her shoulders between his hands, "Slaying is your thing; this is mine. I've studied it for a long time, and I know that souls don't just vanish. They're all around us, always."

Buffy looked up in surprise at his words. She felt the warmth and energy in his hands passing to her, calming her fears.

"Tiny rainbows in a drop of water," he continued, "The brush of wind against your skin, the fresh smell at dawn . . ."

He turned his head up to face the sky full of stars. Buffy followed his gaze and the surge of unseen power passing to her through his embrace made her feel warm inside.

"Look," he spoke softly, "Millions of them, souls shining on brightly. Some, like Drusilla and Angelus, are shrouded by a darkness. But they're there. All you have to do is know," he touched her softly on her forehead, "Here, in your mind. . . and feel," he placed his palm over her chest, "Here in your heart . . . and you can see them."

"That's how you find a lost soul!" Buffy murmured in astonishment.

Jonathan nodded and cracked an impish smile as if to say "How could you miss it?"

"How long have you been able to do . . . that?" Buffy could barely get the question out.

"Always," he answered calmly, "I just never realized it."

"You must not get many dates," Buffy grinned, her fears dissipating, "You'd scare the hell out of most girls."

"Do I scare you?"

"Nah!" Buffy gave Jonathan a playful little shove, "But Xander's right. You are crazy."

"Keeps your mind off what you 'have to do,' right?" Buffy could sense the seriousness in his response.

"Yeah," she nodded as she wrapped her arms around him again. As their lips met once more in the half light on the steps, Angelus suddenly stepped into the open. Immediately Buffy and Jonathan jumped up on the defensive.

"Oh, how sweet," the vampire said, his voice dripping sarcasm, "The two new lovers. Don't get me wrong, I'm not jealous. I'm happy for you Buffy, that you've found somebody. I really feel bad about how we broke up. They say you never forget your first love."

"What the hell do you want!" Buffy snarled as she placed herself protectively in front of Jonathan.

"Just dropping off some invitations to Dru's coming out party for the Ancient One," Angelus said with a phony casualness, "We're kicking off in about two hours. You both are coming?"

"Wouldn't miss it, _Angelus_" Jonathan glared at the vampire.

"Good to see you, too _Johannes!" _Angelus taunted back as he turned to the Slayer, " Buffy, I'm really worried about you. This new guy you're hanging out with, Dru says he left a trail of broken hearts all across Europe. And she should know. . ."

"Jonathan," Buffy announced coldly, "You want to dust him, or should I?"

"I have a better idea," Jonathan suddenly loomed up at Buffy's side, "After we roast the Ancient One, you can beat the crap out of him . . .and then I'll . . . skin him!" The telekinetic's eyes suddenly glowed with the same faint yellow light that Willow had seen on their first meeting in the library. Together Buffy and Jonathan glared at Angel like a solid wall of cold steel.

"Geez, sorry, man," Angelus grinned but for the first time Buffy could sense worry in the vampire's tone of voice, " I'm just the errand boy dropping off the invites. Party's in the basement of Warehouse number three. I'm outta here."

Angel turned and quickly sauntered away into the darkness. Buffy turned to Jonathan, a grin on her face.

"That was pretty cool!" she exclaimed confidently.

"Man, were we scary! Whadda team!" Jonathan answered, smirking.

"Yeah, could have some real good times together," Buffy exclaimed.

Suddenly, Jonathan and Buffy looked at each other sadly, realizing the irony of what she had just said.

"I guess I better follow this loser," he said trying to keep the conversation light, "Oz's van is out of the shop. Get him and Giles to pick me up on the way to the warehouse and we'll do a reconnaissance. You guys get Giles' weapons together back at the library. When we find out exactly what we're dealing with, I'll have Oz come back for you and the others."

"Hey wait, I'm the Slayer," Buffy protested, not liking taking orders, "I should be doing the hunting here."

"Not this time," the telekinetic replied gently, realizing he'd touched a nerve, "When we make our move, you've got to lead us in. Don't worry, I won't do anything stupid. At least not until you get there. Then I can show off. Wouldn't want you to miss the fun."

Buffy stared at the grin on his face. Suddenly she imagined the dream she had the previous night and the fear returned in a rush.

"Jonathan, let's get outta here," she said suddenly.

"What?"

"Let's just blow this whole place!" Buffy was begging him, "I don't want to be in Sunnydale anymore! I hate it here! I really do want to quit. Just you and me. Please, let's get away from here now!"

He gently took her in his arms once more and spoke softly, his words full of regret.

"Buffy, we've been through this. The deal doesn't work that way."

"I know," she answered as she tightened her grip on him. She couldn't let him go. If she did, he would disappear just like in her dream. Suddenly her lips were pressed against his, as she kissed him passionately. At the same time, she drank in the raw energy she felt surging from within him.

"That was the last time . . . wasn't it," she whispered drawing away as her premonition intensified.

"No way!" he shot back.

"You promise? Really promise?"

Jonathan held up one hand as if he were taking an oath.

"I promise," he smiled innocently, "Crazy man's honor."

There was a long pause, each one exchanging silent emotions with the other as the weight of the uncertain future loomed over them both.

"Okay, Slayer, let's get this show rolling! Time to kick some vampire butt!" he announced taking a deep breath.

"You got it, Couz!" she grinned back as the adrenalin surge of an impending battle stimulated her muscles. Somehow there was a comfort in the familiarity of knowing what she "had to do."

Jonathan stepped away from Buffy and in an instant dashed off to follow Angelus. He stopped momentarily on the edge of the darkness just beyond the light of a street lamp.

"I'll see you in a little bit," he called out quietly. Then he was gone.

"Yeah," Buffy answered softly and whispered a silent prayer to herself, ". . . be careful, Couz."

Buffy stood alone with the deepening darkness for just a few seconds more. Then she turned and ran up the steps back into the school to the library.

*****

Angelus walked quickly under the dim street lights through Sunnydale's run down industrial district. The whole area of what had once been a city planner's dream in the early 1960's now was a neglected urban nightmare. Several blocks of factories and their accompanying storage facilities lingered empty and in a critical state disrepair. Arson was common, hence the lack of any serious investigation by the authorities into the most recent fire three months back after computer teacher Jenny Calendar was murdered by a serial killer at Gile's apartment.

In fact, the Sunnydale police, on orders from the City Council, had finally stopped patrolling the area entirely. Seems several Council members had decided on a new policy of "natural urban renewal" for the remaining dilapidated structures.

Angelus paused at the front entrance of Warehouse #3. The vampire resisted the temptation to glance over his shoulder back up the street from where he had come. He could have just as easily slipped into the warehouse via the lower level loading dock but since he knew he was being followed, he wanted to make his destination fully clear to his pursuers. He listened carefully for the distant sound of several internal combustion engines.

After reassuring himself, he slipped in the main entrance.

Moments later, the sound of car engines grew louder. Giles and Jonathan in the Citroen and Oz and Xander in the van rolled down the street with their headlights out. They stopped about twenty yards away from the factory entrance. Xander jumped out of the van and ran up to Giles' open window.

"This is where it's happening," he announced to Giles, "You know Giles, we hang out around here too much. We're turning into regulars."

"I know." Giles nodded and then issued the orders, "You and Oz go get Buffy. Jonathan and I will reconnoiter the inside and meet you back here."

"Sounds like a plan," Xander replied as he turned to Jonathan in the passenger seat, "And Johnno, . . .you guys are supposed to be just the scouts. Don't get too far ahead before the reinforcements arrive."

"We'll be careful. Thanks . . . Iskander."

"You're gonna have to explain this Alexander guy to me sometime," Xander remarked sincerely as he turned from the car window and ran back to join Oz in the van.

Seconds later, the van lumbered away up the street. At the same time, Giles and Jonathan slipped out of the Citroen and entered the door of the warehouse where they had seen Angelus. Just inside the building, they stopped. The first floor was an open manufacturing area now abandoned and strewn with debris. The skeletons of overturned rusting machinery, the target of vandals and scavengers over the years, littered the floor. At the opposite end, a doorway opened on what appeared to be a staircase leading downward. A faint, flashing light emanated from the depths below.

"There," Jonathan whispered as he pointed across the warehouse floor, "There's where we go."

"Shouldn't we find out . . ." Giles stuttered but Jonathan interrupted him.

"No. No further. As Lady Willow says, 'Now we wait.'"

*****

In the library, Willow and Cordelia pulled weapon after weapon from Giles' storage cabinet. Buffy stood off alone by the table of books. She's held the empty Martel notebook in her hands and thumbed the pages as if the blank paper could somehow warn her of what was coming.

"Come on, Buffy," Cordelia sang out, "Are you gonna give us a hand here or what?"

"In a second," Buffy answered over her shoulder as she ran her hands across one page just as she had seen Willow do the night Jonathan materialized.

"Buffy, focus!"

Buffy looked up at Willow standing directly in front of her.

"You're right," Buffy answered, shutting the book and setting it carefully on the table, "Okay I'm ready!"

Willow didn't move as she blocked the Slayer's path to the weapons.

"Buffy, you have to protect Jonathan," she said quietly, "He doesn't know Drusilla like she is now. She must be ten times worse than when he knew her."

"Protect Jonathan?" Buffy studied Willow in surprise, "He knows what he's up against."

"No, he doesn't! He's got a big heart and doesn't see things like we do. I can tell. Drusilla hates that about him more than anything."

"It's gonna be okay, Will," Buffy answered trying to reassure her friend but failing herself.

"Buffy, she's not just going to try to kill him," Willow was now almost pleading with the Slayer, "I don't know what she's going to do, but it'll be something horrible. You've got to protect him, Buffy."

Xander and Oz ran into the room.

"Hey, troops," Xander announced, "We're moving out. Giles and Big John have found where Drusilla and the gang are gassing up the Ancient One!" The pace suddenly picked up.

"I got the van outside," Oz thumbed towards the door.

"Right!" Buffy called out, "Let's go!"

"I think we'll need a few implements of destruction," Xander said with relish as he stepped up to the pile of weapons on the table.

Xander picked up an ax while Oz hefted a particularly lethal looking device that might have been a cross between a brush hook and a scimitar.

Willow grabbed Buffy by the arm and turned the Slayer to face her.

"Promise me you'll protect him!" she demanded and Buffy could sense the building despair in her voice. Could she see, could Willow sense the same premonition?

"He doesn't know this Drusilla! Promise me! He's depending on you!" Willow begged.

"I promise, Willow," Buffy said with as much conviction as she could muster despite the continuous visions from her dream now dancing in her head.

***** 


	4. Part 4, chapters 11 and 12

CARPE DIEM - Part 4

_by  
Gaius Petronius_

DISCLAIMER:  
Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all the characters that appear on the show are the exclusive property of Joss Whedon, the WB, Fox and Mutant Enemy, Inc. GP only lays claim to the character of Jonathan Martel, but Mutant Enemy can have him anytime they want him. The Ancient One is loosely derived from the Cthulhu Mythos stories of the classic 20th century horror writer, H. P. Lovecraft.

This part is rated R for some real bad language.

**Chapter 11 - "Love to be won and lost . . ."**

All of them realized it was a trap. And still they followed the Slayer. There was never any question.

The worn floorboards shivered under their feet as Buffy, Jonathan, Giles, Xander, Willow, Cordelia and Oz wound their way across the debris scattered about Warehouse Number Three. The ragtag assault team, all bearing an outlandish collection of axes, clubs and other uncatalogued weapons from Giles' collection, headed for the doorway at the far end that descended to the chamber below. The building itself shuddered as well from an ominous roaring sound in the lower depths of the warehouse.

As they passed the vampires' banquet table, Cordelia glanced nervously at the dangling corpse spinning gently with the vibrations emanating from below. She huddled in closer behind Xander and gripped her hatchet tightly. Xander wrapped his arm protectively around her shoulder.

Buffy wouldn't acknowledge the gruesome calling card swinging from the ceiling. Her eyes stayed riveted straight ahead as she pushed forward around the abandoned machinery towards the doorway. This was a frontal assault, pure and simple. No element of surprise, no fancy maneuvering, just a head on collision of pure brute force designed to stop the vampires from reanimating the Ancient One.

What would happen after that, neither Buffy nor any of the other Scoobies could be certain. They probably could scatter the nest of vampires Drusilla most likely had assembled. With Jonathan's telekinetic powers at their command, they might even succeed in putting down the Ancient One before it broke loose into this universe. But the twist Drusilla had in store for them, that was what had Buffy frightened as she struggled to banish the images from her dream. All the Scoobies would have to be ready for whatever it might be.

Buffy glared straight ahead as she plunged forward.

"Stay behind me until we find out what we're dealing with!" she ordered. Willow's admonition from back in the library weighed on her thoughts as well. She would protect him. She had promised both Willow and herself. She swore she wasn't going to let the dream win.

The Scoobies made their way through the doorway and descended a metal staircase faintly lit by a torch burning at the bottom. There they were confronted by a heavy locked door. A roaring rushing sound, like the pounding of surf, came from the other side. For a second Buffy studied the door. With a disrespectful sniff towards the obstruction, she signaled to Giles holding a crowbar and Xander nervously patting the steel head of his ax.

"Take it out, guys!" Buffy said curtly.

Weapons cut the air amidst the crunching of wood and metal fittings as Xander and Giles smashed the lock and pried open the door to the chamber room.

The Scoobies swept through the opening and burst out onto the floor of the lower chamber but halted after just a few steps. Across the length of the warehouse at the other end, Drusilla's altar glowed with an unnatural iridescence. The command stone was positioned in the middle and the antimorph symbol pointed upwards.

But it was what was forming above the altar that made them all stop dead in their tracks. Buffy gasped. Cordelia buried her face in Xander's shoulder for a moment. Instinctively, Oz positioned himself in front of Willow while Giles and Jonathan stared with a dumbfounded and almost morbid curiosity.

Above the command stone a coalescing whirlpool of outlandish body fragments, swirling and beginning to assemble into a creature of multiple tentacles and eyes, swayed and surged in the hellish illumination. The materializing entity reached up to the ceiling of the chamber as a rush of wind spewed out from around the phenomenon. It was a monstrosity, an ageless evil that none, not even Giles, had ever lain eyes on, much less confronted in the depths of their darkest imaginings.

The forming body, or more properly, the trunk sprouted greenish blue hair and numerous tentacle shapes that formed a star like center about its top. Smaller protrusions dangled with dozens of eyes and innumerable mouths sporting sharp horn like beaks appeared all up and down the entity's materializing form.

It was an Ancient One, something from beyond time and space, the stuff of nightmares and drug induced visions of Hell. Giles knew its name, something that was only preserved in the blackest book of the dark arts, the Res Profana, the Damned Thing. Jonathan, who also understood, dared speak it out loud and his voice trembled in the winds as he did.

". . . Yogsothoth . . ."

Buffy shook her head in astonishment. As an afterthought she mentally noted there were at least two dozen vampires massing in a defensive line midway between them and the altar. To the left of the materializing Ancient One, Drusilla stood with arms upraised in mid incantation as if welcoming the entity and offering it a big hug. Angelus and Spike in his wheelchair hovered nervously just behind her, ready to bolt.

"What the f . . .!" Buffy started to exclaim.

Jonathan grabbed her by the arm.

"You have to get me to the altar!" he shouted over the rushing roar.

"I could use a little help here!" she said in dismay at both the horror at the other end of the chamber and the forces lined up in their path.

Then, all at once, Buffy took a deep breath. If it were to end here, she thought, then let it end here. This is what she "had to do," what she was bred for, trained for. She knew Jonathan at her side was the same. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad going down together, she wondered, here where the world would come to an end. The moment had arrived and in that instant, time would have no meaning. Buffy dashed forward across the open floor at the wall of snarling shapes.

Caught by surprise at her sudden charge, Jonathan leaped after her and the two, like ancient warriors on the plain of battle, slammed head on into the line of vampires before the altar.

"I think it's time we crashed this party!" Xander shouted to Giles.

"Right!" the Watcher said dryly as he swiftly stowed his glasses in his vest pocket.

"Cover our butts! Keep that door clear!" Xander yelled over his shoulder to Cordelia, Oz and Willow.

Xander and Giles swept forward as well. Xander's ax cut the air and a vampire neck. A rush of dust encircled him momentarily. He couldn't pause to relish the momentary victory as undead surged in front of him. At his side, Giles swung his crowbar repeatedly with one hand and splashed holy water wildly around from a pint flask just for good measure.

Buffy's fists flew over and over in lighting fast strikes against the advancing line. It was one of those fights where every blow lost its individuality as the fury of the battle dissolved into a whirl of motion. She kicked furiously here, jabbed viciously there as vampire after vampire sprang up in her path. And they all seemed to be directing their charge not against her but rather to get around her at Jonathan. Willow's admonition to protect him rang silently amidst the roar of the struggle in her ears.

The telekinetic had none of Buffy's fighting skills. Rather he relied on his ability to move objects, violently as he now discovered, without having to grab them. He swung his arms in an outward motion at the advancing vampires. Sometimes his action stopped an attacker in its tracks, sending the vampire sprawling backwards as if struck by an invisible force. Other times, the telekinetic energy was merely a futile gesture as a vampire would pass right through as if the force were merely a curtain of air.

Jonathan cursed under his breath both Telemon and himself for not spending more time on his combat training. The Gift was powerful but without more control, erratic and undependable. Suddenly Jonathan had to resort to his fists, at which he was not very adept. There was more profanity.

And still, the vampires returned in wave after wave. Despite the onslaught, Buffy thought absentmindedly amidst the fury that she was making progress. The center of the line seemed to be bending inwards towards the altar when suddenly through the din she heard the distinct voice of Xander shout out behind her.

"Don't get too far forward! They'll surround us!"

Buffy quickly glanced around as the line of vampires spread out threatening to envelope the group. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Jonathan wrestling with a vampire that had its arms firmly clamped around his neck. Before she could come to his rescue, Giles using a firm stroke with his crowbar, brained the attacker.

"Hold Back!" Xander exclaimed.

Six vampires broke off from the main group and swept along the wall towards Willow, Oz and Cordelia. In an instant, they too were fully engaged.

"Aim between the legs!" Cordelia shouted.

"Good plan!" Willow yelled back as she began lunging forward with a small broad sword she had selected primarily because it was about all that she could handle. A vampire doubled up howling.

"You two don't mess around!" Oz announced coolly as he jumped in between the women, his scimitar like weapon whistling as it swept through the air, "I feel safer now!"

"There's too many!" Buffy yelled as she backed up.

"If I fight them with the Gift, I won't have enough power to put down the Ancient One!" Jonathan answered her.

"Let me rephrase that!" Buffy shouted as the line of vampires pressed her further, "There's too many to break through! We're supposed to be a team, remember!"

"But. . !" Jonathan was cut off after the first word. Two vampires had slipped in on both sides of Buffy as she struck blow after blow at a third before her that wouldn't go down.

"Now is good!" She screamed out.

"Buffy!" Xander shouted as he saw her almost ovewhelmed by attackers.

Xander's ax swept through vampires in front of him as he broke away from the group, trying to outflank the snarling forms moving in from the side.

At the same time, Jonathan, his eyes now glowing, swung one hand in an outward arching motion. The vampire to Buffy's left that had seized her by the arm suddenly was lifted into the air in a wild whirling motion that twisted its back with a sharp snap and tossed the flailing shape into the line of other vampires.

Several of Drusilla's party streamers, torn loose by the rushing wind from the maelstrom about the altar, fluttered down gaily amidst the surging bodies.

Her arm free, Buffy struck at the vampire in front of her who finally crumpled. Jonathan swung his palm up again, this time at the attacker to Buffy's right. The invisible wave of force snatched the vampire as it was about to sink its fangs into her neck. Again the body writhed in mid air, the twisting ending with a final loud snap as what remained landed on top of the line of vampires.

Buffy quickly glanced back at Jonathan and gasped. His eyes were wide, the pupils black and deep as if opening up into a pathway that descended to depths she couldn't understand. The chill hit her suddenly in the pit of the stomach. Those eyes held a darkness she hadn't seen in him, nor realized he possessed much less would use.

"I won't let the Ancient One hurt you," his words rushed through her mind, "I'll use every power I have. I can even draw on the forces of nature and concentrate them." Now she understood what he meant.

Struck by flying bodies, the line of vampires pulled back, regrouping as a wall just in front of the whirlwind about the altar. Behind her, Buffy heard the sound of vampires exploding into dust as Oz's scimitar swept through the air and Willow's little broad sword jabbed ferociously, now at vampire hearts. Even Cordelia swung wildly with her hatchet, driving off attackers that slipped past Willow and Oz. The remaining vampires attempting to seize control of the exit doorway, melted away and fled back to join the main line.

Buffy glanced again at Jonathan. His eyes had returned to normal once more but he was breathing hard and sweat poured from his forehead. As she backed up and grabbed him by the arm, she felt him trembling in her grip.

"Are you all right!?" she shouted, "The spell?"

"Holding!" he nodded to her but she could sense a desperation entering his voice.

Suddenly, Drusilla slipped from between the line of vampires and swirled out into the middle of the chamber floor as if it were a nightmare ballroom. Cradled in her arms was the miniature crossbow. Instantly she raised it and aimed at Buffy.

"Hello, Johannes my love. Miss me?" she sang out as her finger eagerly caressed the trigger, "Glad you could make my party."

His face blanching with horror, Jonathan, with his arms upraised, stepped in front of Buffy shielding her. Buffy saw his eyes turn black once more and she felt the energy around him change suddenly.

"No, no, no, Johannes" Drusilla cooed as she glanced back at the forming Ancient One, "Pet here wants to play with you, not with nasty Slayer."

Seeing the crossbow as well, Xander dashed forward.

Drusilla's bulging eyes quickly scanned the chamber and caught the moving form of Xander.

"Buffy! GET DOWN!" he shouted.

"Ah, yes, you'll do. Surprise!" Drusilla exclaimed as she spun, aiming the crossbow at Xander. The tiny dart streaked, instantly striking him full in the chest, passing through and embedding in the wall. Xander swayed for a second, dropped to his knees with a round stain of red on his chest and fell onto his back. A trickle of blood ran from his mouth as his eyes quickly glassed over. His ax dropped uselessly to the floor with a clatter.

"XANDER!" Cordelia's scream echoed through the chamber amidst the whirlwind and surviving party streamers.

She ran to Xander and dropped down by his side. Breaking formation, Willow, Oz and Giles swept in around the fallen Xander as if setting up a defensive perimeter.

"No!" Buffy shrieked as the entire enterprise spun horrifically out of control.

"Nice shooting, love," Spike snickered from behind the wall of vampires.

Drusilla covered her mouth like a naughty girl caught in the act and giggled.

"YOU FUCKING BITCH!" Jonathan howled, and Buffy imagined the blackness in his eyes now opened a window onto fury born only in Hell.

"My, that's not PG-13," Spike called out, "Your ex has quite the temper. You better duck, darling."

In fury, Jonathan threw up both arms, releasing the invisible force that swept forward towards the wall of vampires. It seemed to move in slow motion down the length of the chamber, like a massive wave rushing toward shore, picking up debris in its path and tossing it in all directions.

Angelus snatched the giggling Drusilla and dragged her behind the altar as the force blast missed them and slammed into the rest of the vampires. With unaccustomed speed, Spike wheeled himself behind the shelter of a supporting floor to ceiling column as the wave struck. Like a line of ten pins, vampire bodies flew in every direction.

"We've done what you wanted, Dru," Angelus snarled as he pulled Drusilla towards the lower exit out onto the loading docks, "Now let's get the hell out of here!"

"And now my dear Johannes," she murmured gleefully, "You will do what _you_ 'have to do!'"

Spike wheeled himself wildly after the retreating vampires.

"Angelus, next time, don't rent one of these old dumps! The handicap access stinks!"

In the mounting chaos, vampires scrambled madly for the lower exit.

Buffy stared in horror at the fallen body of Xander. She watched motionless as Willow slowly knelt down beside her childhood best bud, cradled his head in her lap and allowed the blood from his mouth to stain her white blouse. In the skewed light of the chamber, the red fluid seemed to match the color of her hair.

"Buffy!"

Buffy, in shock, didn't answer.

"Buffy!" Jonathan shouted again.

Buffy, her eyes pleading, turned to face him.

"The altar! The Ancient One! We have to turn the command stone upside down!"

"But Xander . . .!" she sputtered.

"We must turn the stone!" he shouted over the din of the coalescing Ancient One, "I don't have much power left!"

"Why? . . . " she said softly, "Xander's dead." As she stared at his face, she realized his eyes were blue once more.

"Because," he answered firmly as he took her shoulders in his hands, "It's what we "have to do!"

Buffy nodded.

"All right," she replied, "Let's go!"

Together, they moved through the wreckage towards the altar. As they approached nearer, Buffy noticed nervously that the eyes in the Ancient One were following her. By now the body parts and tentacles whirling about above the altar had almost come together.

Impulsively, Buffy darted towards the steps of the altar.

"NO!" Jonathan exclaimed.

Without warning, a tentacle lashed out of the maelstrom circling over the command stone and wrapped around Buffy's ankles. Immediately, she was pulled off her feet as a second tentacle swirled around her mid section. Both lifted her up into the air as they began to squeeze the breath out of her.

"Jonathan!" she screamed as she felt the air pouring out of her lungs.

"BUFFY!" Giles cried out from the group around Xander. In a headlong dash wielding Xander's ax, Buffy's Watcher flew across the chamber. Giles never dreamed he could run like that.

"Buffy! Hang on!" Jonathan shouted as he desperately struggled to marshal new reserves of strength. He closed his eyes searching for the depths, clenched his fists and rapidly muttered an incantation to channel the energy.

Giles raced up the steps of the altar, swinging the ax at the tentacles holding Buffy up. The blade connected with one tentacle but bounced off the Ancient One with no effect in a shower of sparks. Again, Giles swung over and over, sparks raining down on his head, until the handle finally shattered sending the axe head skidding across the chamber floor.

Jonathan opened his eyes and aimed his hands at the tentacles as if he were holding a pistol. A bolt of yellow streaking energy like lightning leaped from his hands at the Ancient One. Thunder rocked the chamber as the force stuck the tentacles in an explosion of sparks. The tentacles sheared off near where they were wrapped around Buffy. Instantly the Slayer dropped to the floor. For a second, Jonathan, astonished at what he had just done, looked at his clasped hands.

"HOLY SHIT!"

Immediately, he and Giles were by Buffy's side.

"Are you all right?" Jonathan exclaimed, at the same time keeping his eyes on the swaying form of the Ancient One looming over their heads.

"I'm okay!" Buffy gasped, quickly getting back her wind, "I thought that thing didn't have any power yet!"

Suddenly Buffy looked up at Jonathan and their blue eyes met as they had so often before.

"How the fucking hell did you do _THAT!" _she shouted at him.

"No '_fucking_' clue!" he exclaimed back.

"We're almost too late!" Giles broke in, "The materialization into this universe is virtually complete!"

"You and Giles turn the stone while I distract it!" Jonathan yelled.

"WHAT!?" Buffy protested.

"That's crazy!" Giles joined in, "You won't have enough energy to put it down! You'll be torn to pieces if you don't disintegrate first!"

"Giles, Shut UP!" Jonathan snapped as he turned to face Buffy, "I'm showing off for my girlfriend!"

Buffy shook her head angrily, but, as usual, the words escaped her.

"It's time to do something real stupid!" Jonathan quipped and Buffy now saw the frightened look on his face. He quickly leaned forward and kissed her. In that instant time stopped. The roar of the winds around her vanished. The Ancient One no longer swayed above them. In those seconds, in that final moment, she took from him as much of his energy as she could and freely gave back all she had.

"See, I keep my promises," he said softly as he pulled away and rose to his feet.

"Jonathan! No! Please!" Buffy cried out in one final plea.

He ignored her.

"'It's what we gotta do!'" he said as he ran out to the far side of the altar.

Suddenly, the young telekinetic who should have died four hundred years ago, was dancing wildly around in front of the swirling nightmare on the verge of exploding forth in the New World. For just a second, Buffy imagined this was what he must have looked like as he tried to demoralize the Swedish armies before the walls of the capital of the Holy Roman Empire. She couldn't help but grin. Xander was right. He really did look like an idiot.

"Hey! Big Ugly!" he shouted as he bounded from foot to foot.

The swirling eyes in the whirlpool turned towards Jonathan.

"Yeah, you with the nose drool!" he taunted, "We haven't been introduced! I am Johannes Martel!"

With those words, Jonathan clenched his fist and fired off a bolt of the same yellow energy at the Ancient One. It struck the maelstrom which bent under the impact of the blast. The eyes on the Ancient One now were all riveted on Jonathan, and multiple mouths in the whirlwind opened revealing dozens of fangs dripping green slime.

"You know my new friends here call me Johnno, the screaming crazy man!" he shouted. Jumping from side to side, Jonathan fired another bolt at the Ancient One. The swirling force around the entity swayed again from the impact.

Giles crouched down with Buffy on the floor.

"It's now or never!" he whispered urgently, "We'll approach from the back!"

"Right!" Buffy instantly agreed. She quickly stared in horror at Jonathan as he moved wildly around trying to keep the Ancient One distracted.

"Hey, we got rules for cleanliness here in the New World!"

Unseen by the Ancient One, Buffy and Giles crept around from the back towards the altar and the command stone. Each second brought the edge of the steps closer and closer. Quickly glancing at the front of the altar, Buffy noted with alarm that Jonathan was now gasping for breath while his forehead glowed with perspiration in the dim light.

"Man! Green teeth! When was the last time you brushed!" Jonathan shouted as Giles and Buffy reached the altar steps.

Suddenly, a tentacle lashed out of the Ancient One, but Jonathan dodged its grasp and fired off another bolt. As the maelstrom swayed from the impact, the eyes of the Ancient One blazed with anger. Jonathan, seeing Buffy and Giles getting closer to the stone, marched up the steps to the front of the altar and directly challenged the Ancient One.

"But the Worst! The absolute worst is those pits! Didn't your mother ever teach you to wash under your arms!"

Another tentacle swept wildly out of the maelstrom about the coalescing Ancient One and wrapped around Jonathan's chest. He grabbed the tentacle with both hands, stared up towards the ceiling, closed his eyes and let out his breath.

Buffy and Giles leaped at the altar. Grabbing the stone by each end, they quickly flipped it upside down and stumbled backwards. Jonathan toppled forward at the altar, the tentacle still dragging at his midsection, and slammed both hands on the reversed command stone.

"GET BACK!" he screamed desperately and suddenly shouted to the ceiling.

"Ad Infernos Descende Damnatus!  
Ad Infernos Descende Damnatus!  
AD INFERNOS NUNC DESCENDE DAMNATUS YOGSOTHOTH!"

A glowing yellow light emanated from his entire body, spreading down his arms to the altar and the now upside down command stone. From there it swept upward into the Ancient One, reversing the rotation of the whirlwind above the altar. Instantly the entity which had nearly assembled began to dismember. The whirlpool of light steadily lost it's cohesion as the winds whipped backwards and poured downwards into the command stone on the altar. The tentacle wrapped around Jonathan disintegrated into dust, and the Ancient One released a final bellow as the maelstrom vanished away.

Scraps of party streamers drifted gently to the concrete floor.

And then there was silence except for a quiet sobbing somewhere back across the chamber. The light around Jonathan disappeared. The lower level was suddenly almost dark. In one final burst of fury, Jonathan seized the command stone and toppled it to the floor. The resounding crash as the stone broke into hundreds of fragments echoed back down from the rafters.

Buffy sat motionless as Giles leaped to his feet and ran back towards the group around Xander. Jonathan staggered down from the altar and stood dazed and shaking. As he stared at his fingers, he realized that he could faintly see the pattern in the concrete floor through the transluscent flesh.

Suddenly Buffy too heard the weeping. She quickly rose and ran after Giles, but before she could reach Xander, her Watcher met her midway across the chamber floor.

"There's nothing we can do," he said blankly as he held her back from the group, "He never knew what hit him."

Kneeling at Xander's side, Cordelia wept hysterically. Willow still sat with Xander's head in her lap. She was silent but her face streaked with tears. The small spot of blood on her blouse had now spread. She tenderly brushed the hair off Xander's forehead with her hand.

Buffy, restrained in Giles' arms, stared wildly as she imagined the darkness closing in all around her.

"Jonathan, where are you?!" she cried out.

". . . it's over . . . it's over. . ." Jonathan muttered in a daze as he swayed on his feet. He knew it was close and the energy was fading away rapidly

"Jonathan, Help Me! Xander's dead! HELP ME!" Buffy's cry rang in his ears. It was the call for help. He had to answer it. That's how he was trained. Telemon had always told him nothing else mattered more.

Buffy's desperate cry echoed through the chamber as the telekinetic slowly turned and staggered towards the sound of her voice.

"We couldn't have foreseen what would happen here," Giles said trembling, "There's nothing to do but take Xander to . . ."

"No . . . " Jonathan said as he appeared out of the darkness surrounding Buffy and her Watcher, "There is something. . ."

Buffy's stared at Jonathan, again her eyes pleading.

"You're right. . . " he answered her silent request, "This is not the way it's supposed to end." His voice descended to a virtual whisper.   
"Come on, Buffy, . . . let's find his soul."

Jonathan gathered his fading strength and strode over to the group around Xander. Giles and Buffy followed. The telekinetic knelt down next to Willow, and brushed Xander's hair off his forehead just as Willow had done.

"Iskander . . ." he said quietly to the body in Willow's arms, "The legends claim you conquered even death."

He looked at the weeping Cordelia and slowly reached his hand out to her face. Frightened, Cordelia quickly pulled back.

"No, Cordelia . . . don't be afraid," he said and his voice was calming.

Jonathan extended his hand to her face and took several drops of her tears on the tips of his fingers. Softly he brushed them on Xander's cheek. He then held his tear stained hand out for everyone to see.

"This is his soul . . . the tears of those that love him. Willow . . ."

Jonathan reached out to Willow and wiped the wetness from her cheeks, then brushed it against the other side of Xander's face.  
  
"And you, Buffy . . ." he then said as his hand touched beneath her eyes, sweeping up the wetness she never realized was bathing her skin.

He then brushed it across Xander's forehead.

"Iskander, Revenite. . . those who love you are calling," he said quietly closing his eyes as his hands caressed Xander's head.  
"Revenite, Iskander. There's life to live,   
Battles to fight,   
Love to be won and lost.   
Iskander . . . I call your soul back."

Then he reached his hand down and placed it palm first over the wound on Xander's chest. A faint surge of yellow light passed down Jonathan's arm and disappeared into Xander. Willow recognized it immediately from that first night in the library.

Xander's stiffening form suddenly relaxed and gave a deep gasp as he opened his eyes. In the gentle flash of light, his wound vanished as color returned to his face. The gathered Scoobies stood silently, unmoving.

Jonathan suddenly began trembling. Rapidly he rose to his feet, stepping quickly away from the group so that Buffy couldn't see the fading color in his hands. He hovered, swaying, in the corner by the opposite wall. With all eyes on Xander, no one noticed that he now had to lean against the stones for support

"Xander! Xander!" Cordelia cried out with happiness.

"Cordy? Cordy, what's going on?. . . " Xander muttered weakly. He gazed up directly into Willow's face.

". . .Willow?"

"Hey, Xander," she replied sniffling.

"Welcome back, 'Iskander,'" Buffy announced with relief.

"Buff? Where've I been?"

"Believe me, from one who's been there," she replied sincerely, "You don't want to know. Let's just say, welcome to the club."

"We'd better get you home," Giles fussed as he slipped an arm under Xander's shoulder and boosted him into a sitting position. Oz helped Willow to her feet.

"Will, I don't know whether I like these heavy dates or not," he said in a dead pan voice, "Can we just watch TV at your house from now on?"

Willow's smile spread from ear to ear.

As Cordelia and Giles helped Xander to his feet, Buffy glanced around for Jonathan. Seeing him propped up by the stone wall, she ran over and threw her arms around him.

"You did it! I can't believe it! You can do it!" she exclaimed.

Jonathan looked up at Buffy, his face now ashen.

". . . Buffy . . . I'm sorry . . ." he said barely in a whisper.

"What? What's wrong? Giles!" she yelled out over her shoulder

"No, Buffy. The spring's finally dry."

And then she suddenly realized that as she held him in her arms, she could feel the energy, the life force that she treasured so deeply, quickly slipping away.

"No! Hang in there!" she cried out as he started to lose his balance. Jonathan's legs crumpled under him. Buffy grabbed him, trying to hold him up.

"Stand UP God Damn it!" she howled in fury and frustration.

"I guess I can't be your boyfriend after all," he said softly, "Hell of a way to have to break up," and Buffy saw the faint smile on his face.

"No! Don't quit now! You can't fucking quit on me now!" she swore back.

"I know this really sucks so bad," he said shaking his head.

All the Scoobies stared in horror as Buffy cried out.

"Listen to me!" she yelled almost shaking him, "You're still here! You hear me? You're still here!" she argued in desperation trying to convince herself as much as him, "And I'm still here! That's all we need to keep going! Remember, you said so yourself at the Bronze! That's all we need!"

"Buffy . . . it's only change . . . " he whispered, his voice faltering, "I'm always here with you . . .   
in the books . . . at night . . . the stars . . ."

Still she held him tighter as they both dropped to their knees.

"No . . . Jonathan . . . You promised! . . . "

His head tipped forward, leaning up against her chest. Buffy felt the energy around him depart. He was limp in her arms. Buffy, quietly crying, still held him tightly.

"no . . . no, please don't leave me yet . . . you're my Couz . . ."

Buffy rocked his body back and forth as if they were still dancing at the Bronze.

And then the transformation came swiftly. Just as in her dream, Jonathan's body vanished from her arms as his physical form turned to dust. She felt the soft particles pass soundlessly through her hands and drift to the floor like a gentle rain.

The Slayer stared silently at the faintly glowing particles slowly coming to rest on the cold concrete.

Instantly, Willow was at Buffy's side. She quickly raised Buffy to her feet, wrapped her arms around the Slayer, and led her away from the corner of the chamber. Buffy, silent and dazed, didn't resist but went where she was led.

"It's okay, Buffy," Willow said quietly in her friend's ear, "It'll be okay. Come on." She had Buffy climbing the steel staircase to the surface.

For a moment more, Xander, Cordelia, Giles and Oz stood by the dust on the floor. Each hesitated as if it were the last act of the burial ritual where mourners dropped final flowers in the open grave. Then, one by one, they followed Buffy and Willow out of the chamber the way they had come.

*****

**Chapter 12 - "That most mysterious of all things . . ."**

"Walk me into the darkness  
but only for a short way.  
Sunlight is now memories,  
and blues will soon be all grays.  
As much as my heart is with you,  
as much as I want you to stay,  
you may walk me into the darkness  
but only for a short way."

"Lead me to the bow of the boat,  
but do not set your foot inside.  
The boatman's orders are unyielding.  
The stormy crossing is wide.  
As much as I want you to join me,  
as much as you've walked by my side,  
you may lead me to the bow of the boat,  
but do not set your foot inside."

"Walk me into the darkness  
so I do not lose my way.  
Hold me tightly in your arms  
to keep all my fears at bay.  
Lights shine in the darkness  
or so the prophets all say.  
Now walk me into the darkness  
but only for a short way."

* * * * * *

Two days later, Willow didn't feel like waiting long on the steps of Sunnydale High before class. She glanced at the crowds of students milling about where on the surface nothing looked any different. The southern California sun was still bright but there was no sign of any of the Scoobies congregating this morning. Although everything appeared the same, Willow knew it wasn't and never would be again. There was an emptiness that would take time to fill.

She scuffed her shoe against the unforgiving concrete steps, turned away from the sun and walked inside alone.

Later, between classes, the hall was crowded and noisy with students. Cordelia paraded by holding court with two disciples. Further ahead she spotted Xander fighting with his locker that wouldn't close. He slammed the recalcitrant metal door over and over as if he could teach it a lesson. For once, he didn't see Cordelia as she stole a glance in his direction.

". . .Now whether that outfit was just a fashion statement " the head cheerleader pronounced to her companions, "Or an easy way to get thrown out of Monday's classes . . . " she stopped in mid sentence as her eyes settled on Xander.

"I have to go straighten out a color coordination thing with a low life," she announced to those waiting on her favor, "I'll catch up with you in class." She suddenly spun on her heals and swept down the hallway towards Xander.

Looking up from his locker, Xander saw Cordelia staring at him, her arms crossed on her chest.

"Hey, I didn't see you," he said, trying to sound casual. There was a long pause. "So," he continued, realizing at the same time he was probably babbling, "What do I owe the honor of your presence? There are no broom closets nearby."

Cordelia said nothing but as she glared at Xander her eyes started to glisten.

"I'm all right, you know," Xander said, for once being slightly observant of Cordelia, "I don't plan to collect frequent flyer miles for that trip I took the other night, but I'm okay. . . .Really."

He couldn't believe what he was seeing. A single tear ran down the head cheerleader's face. And what he did next he never realized was happening. As if he were recreating an event he barely remembered, Xander reached out, swept the tear up with his finger and hesitantly wiped it on his own cheek. Suddenly he snapped back to reality.

"I don't know why I did that!" he started babbling again in a panic, "I don't know why I did that! I mean . . uh, I may be a bundle of teenage hormones, but I don't normally do really strange things like that!"

Slowly Cordelia reached out and put her arms around Xander. She drew him in close as she tenderly buried her face in his shoulder.

"Uh, Cordy . . . Cordy . . . " he stammered in an exaggerated whisper, "There are people looking . . . this is like wide screen TV here . . . we're in surround sound . . . They don't need the little red and blue glasses to see this in 3D!"

Cordelia lifted her head off Xander's shoulder. She looked him close in the face.

"Shut up, Xander . . . " she said quietly, "Just shut up."

She then buried her face back in Xander's shoulder. They held each other tightly. Students rushing by to classes dodged the couple standing in the hallway. None took the time to even glance at Xander and Cordelia in each others arms.

By evening, the school was largely deserted except for the few lights in the library. Inside, most of Giles' realm was in darkness with only one or two desk lamps, like tiny beacons, providing any illumination.

Buffy, Willow, and Oz sat silently as they had for most of the afternoon in front of the check out desk. Giles stood behind and puttered back and forth between the counter and his office.

"How do I start, Giles?" Buffy said breaking the silence as she stared out at the stacks, "He just said 'the books.'"

"I don't know what to say, Buffy," Giles stuttered uncomfortably as he cleaned his glasses.

Willow stood up and wandered over to a desk littered with loose volumes waiting to be filed. She picked up the remaining Martel notebook, stroked it and carefully opened the cover. Her eyes widened as she found the once empty pages now filled with a delicate flowing script.

"Hey, Giles!" she called out, "There's writing in here!"

"What? What do you mean?"

"Here, look," she said as she brought the notebook up to the checkout desk for Giles to examine.

"Wait a minute," Buffy interrupted, "I thought this thing was supposed to be blank."

"Apparently the spell kept the writing concealed," Giles explained as he scanned the pages, "When Jonathan . . . uh . . . well when he. . . died . . ." Giles knew it was the wrong thing to say.

Buffy stared at her Watcher with a pained expression.

". . .the spell collapsed," he continued, "And now here it all is."

Giles began to read.

"These are the studies and writings of Johannes Martel regarding the nature . . ."

"Gimme it! Lemme see!"

Buffy snatched the notebook away from Giles before he could finish the sentence. Plopping the volume open in her lap, she tried to read but stopped and slowly closed the book.

"It's in that stupid dead language," she said discouraged.

"Scientific works were written in Latin back then you know," Giles explained gently.

Buffy slowly handed the book back to Giles.

"I can't read it Giles. Could you read it to me?"

"Me, too," Willow said.

"I'm in for some of this," Oz concurred.

"Well, gather round," Giles said as he cleared his throat and began translating. Buffy, Willow and Oz sat quietly as Giles spoke. Oz put his arm around Willow.

"I, Johannes Martel, am writing this book to record my studies on what I have learned concerning the nature of the universe. Actually Telemon is making me do it."

Giles stopped for a moment and scowled.

"He said it was necessary," the Watcher continued hesitantly, "since it would be important to someone someday."

Willow glanced over at Buffy who sighed.

"I told Telemon it was boring and that he was just an old fart," Giles stopped, flustered. Willow snickered and out of the corner of her eye she saw Buffy grinning in spite of the streaks of moisture on her cheeks.

"But . . . then dear Phaebe died of the fever," Giles continued slowly, "And I understood what he meant. Since then I have found great comfort in knowing that nothing since the beginning is either created or destroyed, only changed."

"This applies to both those things which are of material form and that of the aether, from the simplest of the elements, reaching up to the fundamental life force and finally including that most mysterious of all things . . ."

Giles looked up from the book and stared across the library. The last two words he spoke with wonder.

". . . the soul."

And then Buffy remembered it, what Jonathan had said. She glanced briefly at Willow. Before Willow could protest, Buffy leaped to her feet and ran out of the library.

"Buffy! Buffy! Where are you going?" Giles called after her.

Before the library door could slam shut Willow was up in hot pursuit. In the darkness of the school hallway, the running footfalls of the two students echoed amidst the lines ever present solemn lockers.

"Buffy! Buffy!" Willow shouted after the Slayer.

Buffy ran out on the night enshrouded steps of Sunnydale High. There she stopped where she and Jonathan had sat on their last night together. Overhead the sky was moonless and full of stars. Buffy stared up into the darkness as Willow caught up with her.

"Buffy! . . . Buffy talk to me!"

Buffy stared intently up at the sky.

"In the stars, Willow," she almost whispered, "He said 'in the books . . . and in the stars.'"

Willow walked up and stood right beside Buffy.

"Which star is it, Buffy?" she asked

"There . . . " Buffy pointed without hesitation, "The bright one, right there."

"Oh, . . . yeah . . . " Willow stared up at the sky, "That's him? You can tell?"

Buffy just nodded.

"It's so bright . . . It's beautiful," Willow said quietly.

Buffy nodded again and looked directly at Willow.

"Offer still open for that shoulder to lean on?" the Slayer asked tentatively.

"Always," her friend answered.

Buffy placed her head on Willow's shoulder and sighed deeply, closing her eyes. Willow wrapped her arms around the Slayer, holding her friend as tightly as she could. They stood silently together in the darkness on the Sunnydale High steps.

*****

"What a bloody stinky mess!" Spike whined staring around at the wreckage that spread out from the altar across the lower chamber of the factory, "We're going to lose our security deposit! He always was a lousy house guest. Never picked up after himself!"

"Now Spike dear, we mustn't speak ill of the dead," Drusilla said in a sing song voice.

"Nice job," Angelus grinned as he kicked his shoe at the small pile of faintly glowing dust in corner of the warehouse, "You even had me going there."

"Was a good party," Spike nodded appreciatively as he looked around at the smashed equipment, scorched altar and shredded party streamers, "But I don't get it, Dru. We've only got half the books."

He gestured at the dust on the floor at Angelus' feet.

"What the hell can we do with that?"

"Ah, you forget," she said in a dreamy voice, "I have taken the first half of Master Martel's course already . . . when I was alive."

"Ooo," Spike smiled sensing Drusilla's twisted mind was working on something even more nasty than just a surprise party.

She held up the notebook.

"The second semester should be a snap. I just have to read this booooring book," she complained.

Drusilla opened the black notebook and read out loud.

"All matter, even the physical human form, is composed of basic elements into which it may be broken down. And from those same basic elements it may also be reassembled."

"Sounds kind of kinky," Spike commented with raised eyebrows as he glanced over at the pile of dust.

"You were an 'A' student, weren't you," Angelus smiled evilly, now beginning to follow Drusilla's twisted line of reasoning as well, "The Wizard taught you everything, right Dru?"

"Just like you taught the Slayer," Drusilla grinned back as her face morphed.

"Angelus, will you do the honors?" Spike interrupted holding up a whisk broom and dustpan.

" All right, just this once. . . . But I don't do windows!" the vampire growled.

"Be tidy Angel, darling, don't miss anything," Drusilla cooed, "We wouldn't want our dear Johannes coming back to us . . . incomplete."

FINIS

1998/2004

  
*****

There is a sequel, "If I should die before I wake," but that's another story!

pax,  
Petronius 


End file.
